Despite the existence of the Constitution and the reforms made in the judicial system, Kenya still has punitive laws that hinder the access and provision of HIV and health related services by people living with HIV and the key affected populations. Some of these laws include the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act 1994, which has largely been used to arrest persons found in possession of needles and syringes as evidence of possession and use of drugs.
This conflict between the Constitution, laws and policies exacerbates human rights violations especially among the key affected populations. People who use drugs continue to suffer from marginalization and intolerance due to the criminal nature of drug use. This particularly happens even in cases where they are accessing health services that may ensure that despite the drug use, risks related to HIV infection are reduced.
It is in this regard that from 5-7 November 2014 at the Pangoni Beach Resort and Spa KELIN, with support from OSF, and in partnership with the Omari Project, Reach out, Muhuri, Mewa, Teenswatch and other organizations will conduct a three day training on HIV, human rights, the law and harm reduction for senior programme officers dealing with injecting drug users and harm reduction.
The main objective of this training will be to provide programme officers dealing with IDUs and Harm Reduction with an opportunity to understand the implication of the Constitution on harm reduction work, develop an advocacy plan to address the human rights violations and legal hurdles that IDUs face as they access health care services.
At the end of this training participants are expected to have strengthened their capacities on harm reduction and its promotion as well as protection of human rights of IDUs in the context of the Constitution. They will also be expected to have an understanding on HIV, human rights and the law in the context of the provision of harm reduction services in a devolved government system.
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