We're delighted to be able to share the HR23 core programme with you.
Please note that the programme is subject to change.
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Information regarding the site visits being organised can be found on the registration page of our website.
Room number: 106
Pre-conference assembly for (self-identified) young people.
Room number: 215
Pre-conference sex worker & drug user community caucus.
Room number: Plenary 3 & VIRTUAL
Chaired by Naomi Burke-Shyne, Executive Director, Harm Reduction International
Welcome to Country
Welcome remarks:
Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sally Capp
Keynote address:
Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand, Chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy
Speakers:
Sione Crawford, Chief Executive Officer, Harm Reduction Victoria
The Hon. Rachel Stephen-Smith, MLA, Minister for Health of the Australian Capital Territory
The Hon. Rose Jackson, MLC, Minister for Mental Health of New South Wales
Awards Presentations:
Presentation of the HR19 Carol and Travis Jenkins Award to Andriy Yarovoi
HR23 Gill Bradbury Award for Excellence in Service Provision
HR23 Carol and Travis Jenkins Award
HR23 National Rolleston Award
HR23 International Rolleston Award
Followed by welcome reception in Exhibition Foyer
Room number: Plenary 3 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Annie Madden, Harm Reduction Australia
Speakers:
Chair: Gaby Bruning
Room number: 212 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Annette Verster
Room number: 213 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Tom Brigden
Room number: 219
Chair: Ruth Birgin
Room number: 220
Room number: 215
MENAHRA aims at organizing a side meeting during the HRI conference, in Australia, to disseminate findings on the following highlights: MENAHRA’s achievements in the past 3 years and the upcoming activities, Egyptian model on Hepatitis Elimination, OST introduction in Egypt, OST shortage in Lebanon and MENA section in the GSHR report 2022.
Room number: 211
Room number: 217
Room number: 216
Speakers and discussion to progress the implementation of best practice in-prison harm reduction strategies in Australia, with input from HRVic, Burnet Institute, UNSW and Hepatitis Australia.
Room number: 206
Family Drug Support has been providing support to families and friends impacted by someone’s alcohol or other drug use for over 26 years. This session will include an overview of our services, our harm reduction approach, research on the benefits of supporting families (for them and the substance user), and videos from families and services around the world including; Carol Beyer (Families for Sensible Drug Policy USA), Jackie McKenna (Ireland), Pauline Stewart (Family Drug Support Aoteroa NZ) and Sarah Evans (Open Society Foundations USA).
Room number: 214
This roundtable will discuss the political struggles that panellists and participants have had to go through to open drug consumption rooms, supervised injecting facilities and overdose prevention sites, and keep them open. The aim is to provide a space for collective reflection and learning on how to do this. This will be of use to all those who are already engaged in these struggles, as well as people who want to set up similar services in the places where they come from. Bring your experience, anger and ambitions. Leave inspired with new ideas on how to save lives.
Room number: 215
This event is to take stock of the different initiatives related to harm reduction in the Philippines - in Cebu and the two adjacent cities. Added UN system, governments, and civil society will share perspectives. UNODC will share the findings of the ad hoc assessments and roll out plans, the government and civil society will share some work related to alternatives to incarceration for PWUD (pre-arrest notably) and the overall frame enabled by the Joint UN Programme on Human Rights.
Room number: 106
All delegates who are Indigenous are welcome to come along and connect, share experiences, and hear a bit about the new Indigenous People’s International Policy Network. Together we are stronger.
Room number: 218
This high-level side-event will draw attention to the concerning surge in executions for drug offences in 2022, and discuss legal, political, and trade tools available to abolitionist governments to promote abolition - both in relation to drug offences specifically, and as part broader efforts to abolish the death penalty in all its forms.
Keynote Address:
Panellists:
Chaired by: Dr Mai Sato, Inaugural Director, Eleos Justice - Monash University
Closing Remarks:
Chair: Nia Dunbar & Sjef Pelsser
Room number: 212 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Ernst Wisse
Room number: 213 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Shay J. Vanderschaeghe
Room number: 219
Chair: Ernesto Cortés
Room number: 220
Chair: Ruby Lawlor
Room number: 216
Please note: Start time is 14:15
There is a lot of talk about human rights based policy in Australia and Victoria. Why is our drug policy still so inhumane?
• Dr. Penny Hill: Civil society perspectives on Australia’s human rights obligations in relation to drug policies and harm reduction
• Fitzroy Legal Service: Harm Reduction and Community Lawyering: reflecting on the outcomes of the coronial inquest into the passing of Veronica Nelson and 21 years of flexible legal outreach to people who use drugs
Room number: 217
Room number: 214
Convener: Nick Crofts, Editor-in-Chief
Presentations/workshop on (among other issues):
• mentoring young and peer researchers as authors and reviewers,
• the changing face of harm reduction and broadening the scope of the Journal,
• challenging criminalisation,
and open feedback and discussion about the future directions of the Harm Reduction Journal.
Chair: Aditia Taslim Lim
Room number: 212 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Caitlin Hughes
Room number: 213 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Nicky Bath
Room number: 219
Chair: Prince Bull-Luseni
Room number: 220
Chair: Ailish Brennan
Room number: 211
Room number: 215
Room number: 216
Australia was once a global leader in harm reduction and innovative drug policy. How can we become global pioneers in drug policy reform again?
• Devin Bowles, ATODA: Creating a jurisdictional ecosystem to optimise harm reduction policy and practice
• Sione Crawford, Harm Reduction Victoria: The 7 Demandments: Sharing Harm Reduction Victoria's Advocacy Platform
• Mary Harrod, NSW USers & AIDS Association: Building a case for peer inclusion: Building policy momentum in NSW as a precursor to (possible) genuine reform
• Nick Kent, SSDP Australia: SSDP Australia & the BeHeardNotHarmed campaign: Challenges and opportunities for youth campaigning
• Kayla Greenstein, SSDP Australia: TGA Rescheduling of MDMA & Psilocybin: Analysis from SSDP Australia's National Research Circle
Room number: 206
What are the obstacles that elected officials face when addressing drug policy? What strategies should we employ to engage with and persuade elected officials? Join our esteemed speakers to hear about their experience of drug policy as elected officials and for a frank discussion how we can best effect change.
Speakers:
Geoff Gallop, former Premier of Western Australia
Richard Di Natale, former Australian federal senator
Hon. Esther Passaris, Nairobi County Member of the National Assembly of Kenya
Fiona Patten, former member of the Victorian Legislative Council
Session co-hosted by cohealth and chaired by Greg Denham, Community Partnerships Facilitator for cohealth.
Room number: 217
Room number: 218
Recent years have seen significant progress on drug policy reform and roll out of harm reduction programming in Africa. Nevertheless, challenges remain - coverage of harm reduction services remains low, stigma and discrimination around drugs and the people who use them persists, and drug laws and policies largely reflect a punitive approach.
Join a diverse panel of speakers from across the continent to learn more about what's working in drug policy reform, gain insights into current programmes that support access to health and rights, and hear from communities and policy makers on how to ensure people who use drugs don't get left behind.
Refreshments provided. To confirm your attendance, please email rsvp@eltonjohnaidsfoundation.org.
Room number: Courtyard Room 1
Thorne Harbour Health will be holding an afternoon networking event for LGBTIQ+ friends/ allies and relaunching their online platform Touchbase. Touchbase (touchbase.org.au/mental-health) is a national website providing information on alcohol and drug use as well as mental health and sexual health for LGBTI communities — the website is a comprehensive resource assisting LGBTI people to better manage their own health and well-being.
Light refreshments, afternoon tea and snacks will be provided.
To confirm attendance at the event, simply email your RSVP to rsvp@thorneharbour.org.
Room number: Catalyst Social Change Centre
An anarchist analysis of how the drug war informs 'addiction/recovery' narratives, and contributes to user-phobia and self-stigma within our own communities.
| 10:30-11:00 | Mapping festival harm reduction in Australia, Stephanie Tzanetis, 145 |
| 11:00-11:45 | The fight for AOD workers right - Important for workers, important for drug users, Andy Sinclair, 325 |
| 11:45-12:30 | Impressions of MOUD treatment - Clients perspectives on barriers, facilitators and cultural connection in an Indigenous Harm Reduction Program, Alexandra Perron, 364 |
| 12:30-13:00 | Providing drug users with opportunities for creative self expression can be a form of harm reduction: one users experience, Megan Moses, 318 |
| 13:30-14:00 | Queering Harm Reduction, Marie Ferraro, 363 |
| 14:00-15:00 | Naloxone Now: Expansion of Naloxone Access in Michigan, a Midwestern USA State, Pamela Lynch, 1076; Prison Harm Reduction: the digital age, Katherine Tree, 320 |
| 15:00-15:30 | Emergency Department Harm Reduction, Elizabeth Samuels, 891 |
| 15:30-16:00 | 10 Year of Sex Worker Leadership in Grantmaking: Debunked Myths & Lessons for Funders, Alexis Wilson Briggs, 276 |
| 16:00-16:30 | Beyond evidence translation: evidence making and gathering as systemic advocacy and policy, Ginny McKinnon, 768 |
| 16:30-17:00 | Elicited Secrets: Emotion and the Ethics of Disclosure in Qualitative Research on Drug Use, Simon Clay, 53 |
Room number: Plenary 3 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Rafi Torruella, Intercambios Puerto Rico and Housing Works
Speakers:
Chair: Ricky Gunawan
Room number: 212 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Sarah Evans
Room number: 213 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Monique Tula
Room number: 219
Chair: Alex Stevens
Room number: 220
Room number: 211
Room number: 217
Room number: 215
More and more people are now talking about the issues facing Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori people. These are not new conversations but the voices are getting louder, whether it's talking about another inquest over yet another Aboriginal death in custody, or finding a way to decolonise oppressive systems.
The Blak Harm Reduction meeting is specifically for Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori people to promote a dialogue that: centers racial equity across the harm reduction framework, including in drug policy, public health, and criminal justice; elevates the history and current role of Blak people in the movement; and identifies and advances recommendations to reduce the harms of these intersecting systems on Blak people and other marginalized groups.
Lunch provided.
Room number: 218
This workshop will present what is new in the WHO guidelines. More details will be provided on new recommendations such as the HCV test and treat approach for increased public health impact, critical enablers, chemsex and service delivery recommendations on peer navigators and virtual interventions. Also, the new Strategic Information guidelines have implications for KP, and PWID in particular, for collecting individual level data to inform service delivery and program planning. The aim of the workshop is to provide guidance on how to incorporate the priority package into Global Fund proposals. In addition to colleagues from WHO and GFATM, representatives from countries will provide examples of how they have managed to incorporate some of the WHO recommendations or how they plan to do so.
Refreshments provided.
Room number: 206
Welcome to this interactive event where intersectionality is discussed with examples of application in the context of harm reduction. The session also unpacks the history and meaning of narcofeminism to build understanding and engagement.
Room number: 216
Building a regional network of people who use drugs for Australia, Aotearoa and the Pacific. Led by Jane Dicka, Harm Reduction Victoria.
Chair: Ganna Dovbakh
Room number: 212 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Ingrid van Beek
Room number: 213 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Ruod Ariete
Room number: 219
Chair: Benjamin Phillips
Room number: 220
Chair: Dilkushi Poovendran
Room number: 211
Room number: 214
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN CESCR) will develop a general comment (GC) on the impact of drug policies on economic, social and cultural rights. As an authoritative interpretation, a GC is a powerful tool to advocate for reform and hold authorities accountable. Harm Reduction International, together with Dejusticia, EHRA, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, IDPC, INPUD, LBH Masyarakat, SANPUD, TB/HIV Care, and Visomutop, will hold a consultation session with Dr. Seree Nonthasoot, member of UN CESCR, on the GC. The consultation will be a great opportunity for civil society to raise diverse issues related to drug policy and their impact on the communities’ economic, social and cultural rights.
We invite local and international organisations, advocates, experts and practitioners to take part in this event, to be held on Tuesday, 18 April 2023 from 2 to 4 PM in room 214.
If you are interested in participating or have any questions about the consultation, please contact Marcela Jofré at marcela.jofre@hri.global, or visit us at the HRI booth.
Room number: 217
Room number: 216
Key voices needed to respond to the complex politics of drugs are subjugated in research, policy, culture and service provision. How can systems and service providers better view, engage with and assign value to under-represented voices?
• Sione Crawford, Harm Reduction Victoria: Shall I get a note from my mum? How stigma impacts the individual and structures
• Baillee Farah, SSDP Australia: Australians who use MDMA and their practices of harm reduction strategies: an SSDP-led scoping review
• Isabelle Volpe, UNSW: Young people and drugs: challenging the role of ‘safety’
• Emily Lenton, La Trobe University: Hepatitis C data justice: The implications of data-driven approaches to the elimination of hepatitis C
Chair: Carolina Ahumada
Room number: 212 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Francis Joseph
Room number: 213 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Kirsten Horsburgh
Room number: 219
Chair: Eamonn Murphy
Room number: 220
Chair: Lena Kucheruk
Room number: 211
Room number: 215
Room number: 216
Workshop on building an Australian consensus declaration for drug law reform.
Room number: 206
The world is changing fast. Initiatives to decriminalise or regulate substances like cannabis, cocaine and psychedelics are increasingly emerging. In parallel, growing awareness of the devastation brought about by punitive drug control, particularly on people who are oppressed on the basis of race, gender or status, is disrupting zero-tolerance narratives. These developments challenge the rationale of the global prohibition regime that has existed for the past century and push it to breaking point. Does it still have the legitimacy to obstruct these challenges? Can it be reformed to absorb these fractures and pave the way for new, rights-affirming policies? Or will it implode as countries break away from its strictures?
This session will explore these themes through a workshop in which participants will be invited to imagine and explore different scenarios for the global drug control regime, and to define our movement’s strategy within each of them. This will be preceded by two short panels in which leading civil society and UN speakers will set the scene for the interactive debates, with Ann Fordham (International Drug Policy Consortium), Geoff Gallop (Global Commission on Drug Policy), Naomi Burke-Shyne (Harm Reduction International), Ricky Gunawan (Open Society Foundations), and Seree Nonthasoot (UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) already confirmed as speakers.
Room number: 218
The session will address global and national efforts to ensure that access to controlled medicines, including those used for OAT, are available at country-level whilst minimizing harms to public health related to their overuse. The side event will invite speakers from UN agencies including WHO, INCB, UNODC, UNAIDS, and civil society groups to discuss medicine access issues at global and national levels in compliance with international drug control treaties.
Refreshments provided.
Room number: 217
Room number: The Decks @ Boatbuilders Yard
Join us for an informal gathering at The Boatbuilders Yard, which is just a stone's throw from MCEC.
A private space - called The Decks - has been reserved for HR23 delegates and will make for a relaxed and fun evening. We really hope you can join us!
The Decks @ The Boatbuilders Yard, 23 S Wharf Promenade, South Wharf VIC 3006
Room number: 218
Both non-injecting and injecting stimulant drug use has been associated with transmission of HIV. The overlapping risks between key populations are not sufficiently addressed by current interventions. As a result, relevant HIV services are not tailored to the needs of specific sub-groups and remain difficult to access.
Participants in the side event will learn more about specific situations and how to address HIV among people who use stimulant drugs focusing on specific key populations.
The side event will consist of:
a) Overview of the epidemiological situation related to HIV and stimulant drug use
b) Introduction of the UNODC new guide "HIV Prevention, Treatment, and Care for People Who Use Stimulant Drugs"
c) Lessons learned
Target audience: community representatives, programme implementation specialists, public health officials
Refreshments provided.
| 11:00-11:30 | Delivering Drug Checking Down Under: A Quarter Century of Activism & Advocacy, David Caldicott, 704 |
| 11:30-12:30 | Making Change - Navigating a path to advocacy success: Melbourne's first injecting room, Greg Denham, 126; #decriminalize campaign - behind the scenes of creating one of the most recognizable harm reduction campaigns in Norway., Natalia Mojzych, 856; From pain to politics: SJ Finn, founder of International Overdose Awareness Day discusses the optics of campaigning in the drug field, SJ Finn, 260; Interventions to reduce stigma towards people who inject drugs among the Australian public and health care workers, Loren Brener, 388 |
| 12:30-13:00 | Decolonizing and Emancipating Harm Reduction: A Practice of Radical Love, Humility and Solidarity, Tanagra Melgarejo, 1079 |
| 13:00-13:30 | Criminal justice settings for the delivery of hepatitis C care, Rebecca Winter, 938 |
| 13:30-14:00 | INSIDE THE TENT: EMPOWERING COMMUNITY AT ALL LEVELS OF THE NATIONAL RESPONSE, Carrie Fowlie, 580 |
| 14:00-15:30 | Peer Leadership - The Experiences with Hepatitis Storytelling Project: A Retrospective, Dan Nabben, 512; 4 years of Drug Consumption Rooms in Mexico and Latin America: synthesis of harm reduction program led by peers to address the opioid crisis through organized civil disobedience., Said Slim, 921; For Us, By Us: Creating a Peer-driven Cannabis Substitution Program, Fred Cameron, 869; Peer Networker Program: Innovation from a Drug User Organisation that bypasses bad regulation, jane dicka, 1065 |
| 15:30-16:00 | Family Support Services from around the world, Tony Trimingham, 1081 |
| 17:00-17:30 | Vapor Tales: Sharing knowledge and drugs in San Francisco, Daniel Ciccarone, 507 |
Room number: Plenary 3 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Colleen Daniels, Harm Reduction International
Speakers:
Chair: Tamika Jackson
Room number: 212 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Rosma Karlina
Room number: 213 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Chris Abuor
Room number: 219
Chair: Alisa Pedrana
Room number: 220
Room number: 214
Niin-a-wind Anji’bide indizhinikaazowin
We are Anji’bide
Niin-a-wind wiiji’ Anishinaabe anji bimadiziwin
We help our people change their paths
Niina--wind wiiji’ Anishinaabe Mino bimadiziwin
We help our people live a good life
Chi Miigwech Bizin-dow-iwag
Thank you for listening to me
Anji’bide (Ojibwe for Changing our Paths) was born of a need to address opioid overdose deaths stemming from trauma and colonization. Anji’bide is rooted in community innovation and care. Anji’bide is a collective of Indigenous and non-Indigenous helpers, healers, and knowledge keepers. We work together to hold space for each other’s well-being and find creative ways to improve care for individuals using opioids.
Anji’bide centers the Anishinaabe value of Zoongidewin (courage, having a strong heart). We begin with the history of the rural tribal nation (located in current-day upper midwest US), which is a story of vision and strength in the midst of pain. This will reveal the root system for why we are where we are today.
Team members who have developed and lead community opioid programming will introduce these programs. Programs are culturally-based and focus on release from prison, cultural interventions and support (e.g., a healing tree), and family members.
Then we will present the opioid use disorder Cascade of Care framework (based on the HIV Cascade of Care) and summarize information from 20 qualitative interviews with individuals from the tribal nation with knowledge of opioid care. These interviews led to a revised and decolonized Anishinaabe Cascade of Care that centers connection, cultural knowledge, and history. This model is nonlinear and includes developmental stages and individual pathways, and there is space for harm reduction. Funding provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R33 DA049386).
Room number: 217
Room number: 211
Room number: 214
A lunch time conversational session to explore the drivers of harm reduction responses with LGBTIQ+ people who use and inject illicit drugs and community-controlled models of best practice. Led by Nicky Bath, LGBTIQ+ Health Australia.
Room number: 216
Exploring how we build culturally safe workplaces for living experience peer workers. Led by Nadia Gavin, Harm Reduction Victoria.
Room number: 218
Since March 2022, UNODC has supported community-based efforts to ensure continuity of care and support for key populations. The session provides showcases of how the harm reduction services are adapted to address the immediate and long-term needs of people who use drugs and those released from prisons.
Speakers:
Room number: 206
The 'war on drugs' in Southeast Asia has created conditions for punitive, potentially harmful and ineffective drug policy. We will share a new study based on interviews conducted with prisoners in Indonesia convicted of drug offences. This research addresses the economic and social motivations for entry into the illicit drugs trade and seeks to understand how people navigate the risks and rewards of involvement.
This work forms part of a wider programme of research we are conducting with Atma Jaya University (Indonesia) and the Community Legal Aid Institute (LBH Masyarakat, Indonesia) to map the experiences of people sentenced to death for drug trafficking across Southeast Asia and to test the theory that the death penalty can deter drug trafficking.
Speakers:
Room number: 215
Women and Harm Reduction International Network (WHRIN) allies will converge to review network progress and next steps. Conference delegates who wish to learn more about WHRIN are also welcome.
Chair: Geoff Gallop
Room number: 212 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Marcela Jofre
Room number: 213 & VIRTUAL
Chair: Virginia Macdonald
Room number: 219
Chair: Nazlee Maghsoudi
Room number: 220
Chair: Mark Whitfield
Room number: 211
Room number: 217
Room number: Plenary 3 & VIRTUAL
Chaired by Naomi Burke-Shyne, Executive Director of Harm Reduction International
Former President of South Africa Kgalema Motlanthe
The Hon. Gabrielle Williams, MP, Minister for Mental Health of Victoria
Judy Chang, International Network of People who use Drugs
Paul Hunt, New Zealand Human Rights Commission, Aotearoa New Zealand
Award Presentation:
Brooklyn McNeil Rae of Hope Award, sponsored by the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation
The Melbourne Declaration
| 10:30-11:00 | Strength in Solidarity: Bringing together diverse local stakeholders to disseminate public drug information, Penny Hill, on behalf of the Prompt Response Network, 542 |
| 11:00-12:00 | Impacts of COVID-19 - Impact of COVID-19 on the harm reduction service in the MENA region, Elias Al Aaraj, 967; Resilience of harm reduction. Study on harm reduction responses in 34 European cities during COVID-19 pandemic, Daan van der Gouwe, 597; Doors Wide Open: Uninterrupted harm reduction for homeless & disadvantaged PWUD in Melbourne CBD during COVID-19 lockdowns., Richie Goonan, 564 |
| 12:00-12:30 | Advancing a Harm Reduction Ethic in a Larger Organization, Lee Hodge, 297 |
| 12:30-13:00 | Can harm reduction go big without being co-opted?, Stacey McKenna, 300 |
| 13:00-14:00 | Naomi Burke-Shyne in Conversation with Pat O'Hare, HRI Founder |
| 14:00-14:45 | Shaping the harm reduction space, especially for transgender and Gender Diverse First Nations communities, Marnie O'Rourke, 554 |
| 14:45-15:15 | We gotta burn it down! Finding freedom in the intersection of reproductive justice and harm reduction, Tamika Jackson, 1080 |
