The Senlis Council

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The Senlis Council logo
The Senlis Council logo

The Senlis Council is an international policy think tank committed to implementing change at all policy levels, by bridging the gap between people and policy in three key areas:

GLOBAL INSURGENCY The Insurgency Programme aims to support innovative political leadership on security and development crises in conflict zones. Through field research such as the Senlis survey of 17,000 Afghan men on their perceptions of current security and development issues in Afghanistan, the programme provides policy-makers and the wider public with informed strategic response options, and the grassroots perspectives necessary to unlock progress.

PUBLIC SECURITY CHALLENGES Based in Rio de Janeiro, the Centre of Excellence on Public Security Policy provides innovative research, advocacy and policy analysis to promote pragmatic responses, supporting states to solve public security crises and pave the way for social and economic development.

PUBLIC HEALTH & DRUG CONTROL Working in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, The Senlis Council co-chairs the Rome Consensus for a Humanitarian Drug Policy together with the Italian Red Cross. The Rome Consensus brings together 110 national societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent to promote and implement humanitarian and public health-focused drug policies.

Through a unique mix of on field research – from Afghanistan to Somalia - public reports, films and project implementation, The Senlis Council examines the root causes of current crises, and works to challenge out-of-date perceptions to achieve measurable and direct policy results. The Senlis Council’s objective is to promote open debate in order to alleviate current governance, development and economic crises and ensure that future policy-making in these areas is informed, humanitarian and delivers impact.


Contents

[edit] Poppy licensing

One of the major policy recommendations to come from The Senlis Council is the licensing of opium in Afghanistan for pharmaceutical purposes. It based on the premise that there are two problems that need to be solved:

  1. Afghanistan's reliance on opium;
  2. A lack of opiate-based medicines available for pharmaceutical purposes

They contend that this would be a short-to-medium term solution to address the opium crisis that is currently occurring in Afghanistan, since alternative livelihoods programs in the country will take many years to come to fruition and no crop matches the agronomic properties of opium. Meanwhile, there is a shortage of morphine in developed countries and this is an even greater problem in developing countries, compounded by the growing rates of HIV/AIDS and cancer around the world.

This kind of scheme already exists in the world. India, Turkey and Australia currently produce much of the opium used for pain medications through a licensing system endorsed by the International Narcotics Control Board[1].

Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureate Dr. John Charles Polanyi has expressed his support for the poppy for medicines project.[2]

Stéphane Dion, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, has also backed this proposal[3].

[edit] Poppy for Medicine

In June 2007, the Senlis Council launched its "Poppy for Medicine" technical dossier that proposes a project model for licensing poppy cultivation and producing essential medicines within Afghanistan at a local level. Village cultivated poppy would be transformed into poppy-based medicines, such as morphine, in Afghan villages. The project lays out an integrated control system that combines the involvement of strong local structures and state authorities such as the police and the Afghan National Army in order to limit diversion. The role of the village shura in defining the parameters of the project guarantees the participation of all levels of village society from farmers to laboratory technicians trained to elaborate the medicines in village-based laboratories. By making the medicines locally, value is added to the finished product, the proceeds of which will go towards the economic diversification necessary to break ties with the illegal opium industry and eventually phase out opium production. Furthermore, Afghan poppy-based medicines could provide a cheap pain relief solution for countries suffering from the acute global shortage of poppy-based medicines: the Poppy for Medicines proposes creating a second-tier medicine supply system that would complement the closed supply and demand system regulated by the International Narcotics Control Board that controls the provision of raw poppy materials and currently ensures that 77% of poppy-based medicines are used by only six countries (see Fischer, B J. Rehm, and T Culbert, “Opium based medicines: a mapping of global supply, demand and needs” in Spivack D. (ed.) Feasibility Study on Opium Licensing in Afghanistan, Kabul, 2005. p.85-86.) For more information on the Poppy for Medicine project, see the Senlis Council report, "Poppies for Medicine" [1]

[edit] Food aid in Afghanistan

The Senlis Council has recently started carrying out food aid activities in informal internal refugee camps in southern Afghanistan, in the provinces of Kandahar and Helmand[4].

[edit] Partnerships and collaborations

The Senlis Council has several partnerships with organisations working with health, development and security issues.

The Senlis Council works in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and collaborates closely with the Italian Red Cross and its president Massimo Barra in raising awareness of issues relating to the treatment of drug addiction. The partnership between the IFRC and The Senlis Council has resulted in the Rome Consensus for a Humanitarian Drug Policy, which was signed on 17 December 2006 in Rome by 22 national societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movements. The Rome Consensus calls for a humanitarian, public health-based approach to drug addiction treatment.

The Senlis Council organised a joint conference with the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in February. The attendance list included General David J. Richards, who was overall commander of NATO-ISAF until early February 2007.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Scotland on Sunday, "Revealed: scheme to legalise Afghan opium" (4 March 2007)
  2. ^ The Globe and Mail, "There's a way to end Afghanistan's and the world's pain" (23 September 2006) Registration required
  3. ^ Toronto Star, "Sell Afghan poppies for medicine: Dion" (23 February 2007)
  4. ^ Esprit de Corps,"From the ground up" (11 February 2007)

[edit] Publications by the Senlis Council

[edit] External links

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