14/06/2016
The joint programme between Latin America and the Caribbean, and the EU on drug policy, COPOLAD II, managed by FIIAPP, organises its first Annual Conference.
Primera conferencia anual de COPOLAD II, La Haya
The International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP) organises, in The Hague, the first Annual Conference of COPOLAD II: From evidence to practice: challenges in the area of drug policy. The event will be held on 14th and 15th June and its objective is to promote opportunities for information exchange, coordination, and cooperation between the authorities responsible for drug policies in the European Union (UE) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
More than 130 participants from the drug policy world are discussing, in The Hague, the challenges to be faced in making drug policies evidence-based with international organisations.
The Head of Unit for Regional Operations in Latin American and the Caribbean of the Directorate-General for Development and Cooperation (DG DEVCO/EuropeAid), Jean-Paul Joulia, along with senior officials from Mexico and the Netherlands, shared the opening session. They were joined by Ignacio Soleto, Director of the FIIAPP Public Administrations and Social Affairs Area, and Francisco de Asís Babín, Spain’s Government Representative for the National Plan on Drugs.
The conference was an opportunity for the individuals responsible for drug policy in the governments of CELAC countries and the European Union, which finances the COPOLAD II programme, to jointly explore activities and lines of action in a bi-regional cooperation framework.
The representatives of the collaborating agencies and of the different countries participating in COPLAD II will spend these two days discussing their contributions to the programme and debating operational aspects to develop the different themes and activities planned for the second phase of the programme: Drug policies, human rights, gender, public health and security: legislating is possible.
Teresa Salvador-Llivina, the Director of COPOLAD, will be in charge of proposing the objectives and working model for the next four years of work in COPOLAD II.
COPOLAD is a cooperation programme between the European Union and CELAC which works in the area of drug policy. The programme is working to foster the application of evidence-based policies at a time when the formulation of these policies, particularly in the majority of Latin American and Caribbean countries, is undergoing redefinition to take into account the principles and models that have been used over the last four decades.
