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Dept for International Development

Answer

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the impact on harm reduction programmes supported by his Department in the Russian Federation of the (a) 1995 Federal Law on the Prevention of Dissemination in the Russian Federation of Disease Caused by Human Immunodeficiency Virus and (b) the 1998 Federal Law on Narcotic Means and Psychotropic Substances. [179937] Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID funded a project entitled "Building Police Support for Harm Reduction" from August 2001 to December 2003. The project was contracted to International Family Health, and its purpose was to involve the Russian police as an integral part of harm reduction strategies. One output of this work was a report by Professor William E. Butler, Professor of Comparative Law, University of London, which sought to examine and clarify a range of issues on harm reduction in Russia from a legal and judicial perspective. This report (published by International Family Health : ISBN 0-9545761-0-1) included an assessment of the impact of these and other Russian federal laws on harm reduction programmes in Russia and concluded that the provision of harm reduction services in Russia, in particular services for injecting drug users, is consistent with Russian law. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC), Open Health Institute (OHI), AIDS Foundation East West (AFEW) and others, are continuing to work on the legal issues affecting harm reduction.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

422 c1488W; 179937

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Drugs Disease control HIV/AIDS Misuse Russia

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk