The report is dedicated to the memory of our friend and colleague Dalja who did so much for others but left us too soon
Since the Andrey Rylkov Foundation (ARF) was founded in 2009, we have been on a mission to achieve Health and Social Justice by promoting and developing humane drug policy based on tolerance, protection of health, dignity and human rights. We owe our inspiration and name to Andrey Rylkov, a Russian harm reduction activist and an outstanding human being, whom we lost in 2006.
Our work is based on the following five strategies:
- Advocating for humane drug policies at the domestic and international levels;
- Defending the rights of people who use drugs, including through strategic litigation;
- Providing direct services to people who use drugs to protect their health and rights (Harm Reduction – Moscow);
- Supporting and building the capacity of the community of people who use drugs;
- Information and education, including the promotion of public debates on drug policy issues through working with mass media and building alliances with social, art and political activists.
We work with people from all walks of life who use drugs and suffer from drug dependency – the main group affected by HIV and stigma in Russia. Many of us are drug users ourselves, some of us live with HIV and hepatitis C. All of us have lost our friends in the battles of the War on Drugs. We are professionals and social workers, lawyers, and advocates for human rights and humane drug policy. All of us are equally invested in the organization and love what we do.
We believe in the precedence of human rights over repressive policies. We contribute to building a compassionate, non-discriminatory and tolerant society. Faced with the Russian government’s opposition to harm reduction, we lead efforts to advocate for introducing evidence-based and internationally recognized opioid substitution treatment (OST) and provide lifesaving services to drug users. We educate, empower, and support people who use drugs to help them protect their rights. We would not be able to do without our awesome, dedicated team members.
This report presents the Foundation’s work in 2015 – 2016.