United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Ukraine)

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a co-sponsor of UNAIDS since 1999 and the lead agency in the UN family for HIV/AIDS prevention and care among people who use drugs and in prison settings. UNODC is also responsible for facilitating the development of the UN response to HIV and AIDS associated with human trafficking. UNODC assists Member States to provide people who use drugs, prisoners and people vulnerable to human trafficking with evidence-informed comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment and care services. Our goal is to avert HIV infections and related deaths, to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV, and to contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, particularly to halt and reverse the AIDS epidemic. Since December 2006 UNODC has started its HIV/AIDS related programme activities in Ukraine through its programme office located in Kyiv that covers Ukraine and Moldova. In 2011 UNODC started a three year project – “Effective HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care among Vulnerable Groups in Central Asia and Eastern Europe” that covers Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, , Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Overall goal of the project is to expand Member States’ capacity to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS among people who use drugs and in prison setting as well as to build capacity of the civil society to respond to the challenges of HIV epidemics. UNODC Programme Office in Ukraine is responsible for the implementation of the project activities in Ukraine and Moldova, and will focus its efforts on achieving four major outcomes: - Harmonized human-rights-based and evidence-based strategies and interventions incorporated in national programmes on drug control, prevention and treatment of HIV and Tuberculosis, and relevant sections of programmes on criminal justice reform to ensure more effective and coherent national response to HIV epidemics as it relates to injecting drug use and prison settings. - Strengthened professional education system on health care, social protection, law enforcement and prison systems for improved provision of integrated, evidence-based and comprehensive HIV services including drug dependence treatment for people who use drugs and prisoners. - Improved management of HIV-related services to ensure continuity of care and provision of integrated and easily accessible, evidence-based, large-scale and comprehensive services for MARPs in community and prisons nationally or in selected territories of the project countries - Strengthened national capacity for monitoring and evaluation of the access to HIV-related services for people who use drugs and prisoners in accordance with international standards and recommendations. The HIV/AIDS work of UNODC is done in partnership with all UNAIDS co-sponsors and key partners, including civil society organizations and organizations of people living with HIV/AIDS. The Office also works with UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS, Joint UN team on AIDS, and specific national technical working groups on areas in which UNODC has a lead role within the broad framework of the UN Implementation Support Plans. For such working groups, UNODC advocates including all stakeholders, such as health, law enforcement and criminal justice sectors, as well as non-governmental organizations and people living with or affected by AIDS. UNODC believes that civil society organizations play a vital role in HIV/AIDS prevention and care among these vulnerable groups by empowering them so their voices are heard when decisions that affect their lives are made. The Office has thus been actively promoting the meaningful involvement of such organizations, including organizations of people living with HIV/AIDS in the context of GIPA (Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/ AIDS). It is also working to build the capacity of civil society organizations in helping them to contribute to the development of appropriate policies, strategies and programmes for people who use drugs, prisoners and potential and actual victims of human trafficking.