𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐕𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐃𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐬

𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏

The EuroNPUD women and WHRIN teamed up again in 2021 for the campaign for Elimination of Violence against Women who Use Drugs by joining the #16days UN campaign (from 25 November, the International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women through World AIDS Day on 1 December until International Human Rights Day on 10 December).

↫↫↫↫↫ 🅴🅻🅸🅼🅸🅽🅰🆃🅸🅾🅽 🅾🅵 🆅🅸🅾🅻🅴🅽🅲🅴 🅰🅶🅰🅸🅽🆂🆃 🆆🅾🅼🅴🅽 🆆🅷🅾 🆄🆂🅴 🅳🆁🆄🅶🆂 ↬↬↬↬↬

TO ꆛ W🅾🅼🅴🅽 🆆🅷🅾 🆄🆂🅴 🅳🆁🆄🅶🆂 2021

Several EuroNPUD member drug user groups applied for small grants to undertake activities linked to this year’s campaign. WHRIN and EuroNPUD provided small grants to the following country drug user groups: Metzineres in Spain, PeerNUPS in Greece, CASO and MANAS in Portugal, Chemical Sisters in Italy and SLON in the Czech Republic. The partner groups used 16 days to organise events and various local actions to fight violence and stigma. As a symbol of the international theme colour of the UN campaign, members of country groups wore orange colour and displayed posters with an orange theme.

🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

★彡 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬 彡★

Metzineres started their campaign actions in Barcelona on 24 November, when they took part in a protest about violence against women and displayed banners giving a voice to women who use drugs. On the following days, Metzineres organised a number of different actions: a march through the parts of the Raval neighbourhood with a high prevalence of violence against women, a viewing of a documentary Zauriak that explored mental health and illness through a feminist perspective, a workshop about intersectional feminism, mass screening for HIV and hepatitis C with a debate about serophobia and the stigma experienced by people living with HIV, a discussion about different expressions of gender and sexualities, a workshop about sex work and participation in a radio programme, a viewing of a documentary about Marsha P Johnson, and a theoretical and practical workshop about self-defence and sex work. Metzineres also organised an open rehearsal of the Narco-Mystical Stories project, which is an artistic creation and a result of collaboration between Christina Schultz and the women participating in Metzineres. This project originated from the first COVID-19 lockdown when Christina activated a weekly poetic and conspiracy writing workshop with Metzineres.

Metzineres used the grant to fund the design of the campaign, merchandising and two community meals. Two peers took part in the campaign and led different activities. Metzineres also collaborated with the residents of the Raval neighbourhood on the organisation of the protests, Yolanda Jolis from the MACBA project, who delivered the intersectional feminism workshop, and Christina Schultz, who organised the above-mentioned rehearsal.

★彡 𝐏𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐍𝐔𝐏𝐒 彡★

Due to the COVID-19 situation and uncertainty that accompanies it, PeerNUPS opted for not holding a traditional public event and instead organised strategic meetings with officials to discuss the violence against women who use drugs. They met with the Vice President of OKANA (the OST distributing organisation) and the National Coordinator for Narcotics in Greece, who is planning the new national strategy for drugs. PeerNUPS also conducted two visits to “IONIS”, the homeless shelter in Athens, where they discussed the challenges faced by women who use drugs living homeless in a male-dominated environment. The participants also completed a questionnaire about the services offered in the shelter and their perceptions of safety. Furthermore, PeerNUPS promoted the EVAWUD campaign online with 🔗articles 👈 and paid ads on social media platforms, where they shared their press release and campaign poster in the Greek language.

★彡 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐎 彡★

CASO organised EVAWUD campaign actions in Portugal on 30 November. In the morning, they delivered a workshop for practising the manual printing technique of t-shirts and a conversation about masculinities and violence against women, which marked the preparation for a public campaign. They gathered at Fontaínhas, an iconic place in Porto, where they invited participants to print their orange t-shirts with the campaign slogans “End violence against women who use drugs” and “Women fighting back against the war on drug users”. CASO also displayed the t-shirts and campaign posters to mark their action visually. The printed t-shirts were offered with the request of wearing them to support the campaign and contribute to the effective elimination of violence against women. The public campaign was filmed by Luís Vieira Campos and will be included in the INPUD’s short documentary series, which is currently in the production phase. CASO received donations (€65) from the participants at the campaign, which will be used to support the mutual support group of women who use drugs – MUSA. MUSA/CASO also met with MANAS/GAMEM/GAT, who organised a workshop on creative writing for a fanzine. This fanzine is intended to be used as advocacy material to focus on the needs of women who use drugs at a national level.

CASO used the grant for funding t-shirts and textile printing ink, transportation expenses, lunch and cash incentives for peers involved in the campaign and creation of the fanzine. Eight peers were actively engaged on the day of the campaign, and at least six contributed to planning the action. CASO also collaborated with several partner organisations: MANAS/GAMEM/GAT, Kosmicare, Saber Compreender, APDES, Porto Solidário and CRI-Porto Oriental (public health service).

★彡 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐒 彡★

MANAS started the campaign with a guided walk in Lisbon and participation in the march, fighting against the war on drugs. MANAS also organised three creative writing workshops for the production of a collective feminist fanzine (in collaboration with the Insurgentes Bookstore), which will be launched in January 2022. The first workshop was delivered by Cheila Rodrigues (Insurgentes Bookstore) on 4 December and started with a reading and discussion of Audre Lorde’s words “We were never meant to survive”, followed by a debate about the topics for the fanzine and the importance of the pleasure and the erotic when attempting to change narratives. On 6 December, MANAS delivered a campaign action in Porto, where they teamed up with CASO/MUSA for a workshop about oppression, institutional violence, pleasure and sex work, a viewing of a documentary and a MANAS video, and a dance afterwards. This meetup was financially supported also by a small grant from YouthRise. MANAS attended a peer assembly at CASO’s headquarters in Porto on the following day, where they decided on their priorities: self-managed safer spaces for women and non-binary people who use drugs, the right to housing/occupation, the demand to end police violence and to make visible the collective of people who use drugs with a focus on intersectionality and human rights. MANAS concluded their campaign on 9 December, when they organised the third creative workshop, followed by the screening of the documentary "Six Women, One Seed" (directed by Larissa Lewandoski and produced by Joana Canedo at Sirigaita) and a discussion afterwards, which centred on reclaiming more visibility for the collective of women who use drugs.

MANAS used the funding from the grant for the translation and subtitles for the documentary and video, fanzine workshops and coverage of basic expenses for their travel to Porto. In total, 30 peers took part in the organised events, and more than 70 people attended the documentary screening and its accompanying discussion. MANAS collaborated with several partner organisations, including GAT, Sirigaita, A Leste Studio, and YouthRise.

MANAS GATCreative writing and dinner at A leste studio.jpg

★彡 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 彡★

Chemical Sisters initiated the campaign on 25 November, when they organised an intervention about the application of harm reduction in fighting violence against women who use drugs in party settings. Chemical Sisters also attended the National Conference on Drugs on 25–26 November, where they discussed the 16-day campaign with the Minister for Youth Policy Fabiana Dadone and the representatives of various institutions. To support the promotion of the campaign, Chemical Sisters produced and distributed flyers (in English and Italian) about the relationship between women’s bodies, drugs and harm reduction services dedicated to women. These flyers were distributed in different settings, for example, at the campaign against HIV stigma "Chi Si Ama Mi Segua" at the drop-in in Alessandria (Piedmont) and at the Static Parade event organised by the drop-in in Biella. The campaign was concluded on 10 December, when Chemical Sisters delivered harm reduction interventions in the public consumption areas in Turin; they distributed promotional and educational materials, interacted with women who use drugs in the streets and shared strategies regarding how to fight violence against women who use drugs.

𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬

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2020 Campaign to eliminate violence against women who use drugs.

November 25, the International Day for Elimination of Violence against women, marks the beginning of 16 days of action through to December 10, International Human Rights Day.

The EuroNPUD women and WHRIN team up again in 2020 for the campaign against women who use drugs. For 16 days we wear something orange (to pick up on the international theme colour of the UN Campaign) we organise events and various actions (on line or not depending on #covid19), fighting against violence and stigma.