[Plenary Speech] International Harm Reduction Conference #HR23 - Melbourne, Australia

On April 16-19, 2023, I participated in the 27th Harm Reduction International Conference (#HR23) that was held in Melbourne, Australia and organized by Harm Reduction International. Gathering harm reduction advocates, scholars, and policymakers, the conference brought together over 1,000 delegates from 80 countries - including over a dozen from the Philippines.

Together with Kirsten Han (Transformative Justice Collective, Singapore), Gina Jackson (Return to the Heart Foundation, USA) and Kassandra Frederique (Drug Policy Alliance, USA), I was part of the opening plenary entitled "Challenging Systems of Oppression". In my address, I talked about the role of activism, advocacy, and scholarship in the Philippines during and beyond Duterte's drug war - as well as the need to "decolonize harm reduction". Here are some of the concluding thoughts I imparted: 

This is message that we send you from the Philippines: That even when our leaders suppress our rights and oppress our communities, there are good people in government, in the private sector, civil society, people who use drugs who work for change, pursuing activisms both loud and quiet, advocacies both urgent and enduring. 

That even when society as a whole think that drugs are evil, even when they support leaders who echo that view, there are academics, artists, various allies who try - in their own ways, to erode that view, slowly and patiently, pointing out its many contradictions.

And even at the darkest moments of oppression, there are pockets of resistance that are spelling the difference between death and life.

Inspired by the conference, I also wrote a column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer entitled "The case for harm reduction". 

[Presentation] Launch of the Global State of Harm Reduction 2020

On October 28, 2020, I joined Harm Reduction International in the online launch of the 7th edition of the The Global State of Harm Reduction - a biannual report that provides an independent analysis of harm reduction developments in the world. 

In the online launch, I shared key updates about harm reduction and drug policy currents in Asia, as the author of the Asia chapter the GSHR 2020. Ganna Dovbakh and Jorgelina di Loro gave similar updates from Eurasia and Latin America, respectively, while Naomi Burke-Shyne, Executive Director of Harm Reduction International, offered an introduction and synthesis. Colleen Daniels, Deputy Director of HRI, moderated.  

The report is available online. Aside from regular updates, it features a chapter that reviews the impacts of COVID-19 on harm reduction services worldwide. The 2020 report is also more explicit in highlighting the interconnectedness of harm reduction and illnesses like hepatitis C and tuberculosis. Key themes in the Asia chapter include the continuation of drug wars and punitive drug regimes, the rise of methamphetamine and NPS (hence, the need for harm reduction services for people who use those drugs), as well as the impacts of drug policies on women.