Javier Sagredo Fernandez
Director of D2 INNO-LAB, the Global Innovation Lab on Drug Policy and Sustainable Development, and fellow researcher for the Global Governance Research Center (CIGG) of the University of Salamanca (Spain).
In the past 25 years, he worked as director of the EU-LAC drug policy cooperation program (COPOLAD III), as regional LAC advisor on Citizen Security and Democratic Governance at the UN Development Programme, as senior expert on drug policy for the EU in Bolivia and for the Organization of American States in key areas of drug policy development, as well as an independent advisor in Latin America and Southeast Asian countries.
Javier holds a law degree from the Universities of Salamanca (Spain) and Galway (Ireland), a Master's degree in European Law from the Free University of Brussels (Belgium), a postgrad in decentralization and local development from the Alberto Hurtado University in Chile, and PhD courses on Social Economy at the University of Valencia (Spain).
Session
Transforming the global punitive approach to drugs and their negative impacts into vectors that facilitate progress toward the goals of sustainable development and fundamental rights and freedoms requires profound changes in the key norms and institutions of local and national policy and the international drug control regime. We continue to rely on a heavy, costly and demanding “battle tank” to manage complex drug problems, when we require a “symphony orchestra” of measures from different spheres of public policy and from our communities: An ensemble, a system of comprehensive public policies, in which the protagonism is not capitalized by the deep sounds of the “percussion” of penal and law enforcement measures, but rather the string, wind and brass melodies from the social, educational, health and economic inclusion spheres, focusing where needs are greatest. To this end, it is essential to give a leading role to the various development actors in the emergence of a new generation of public policies and regulations on drugs that play in favor of improving the living conditions of people and communities, especially those most affected and vulnerable.
In response to the need for transformation of drug policies, new approaches have recently begun to take shape, implementing systemic and innovative work methodologies, trying to understand and act on the nexus between drugs and sustainable development. Adopting a holistic approach centered on people, their territory, and their cultures, these perspectives promote methodologies and tools to understand the opportunities and risks that different communities must manage as a consequence of their involvement in the different dimensions of the drug phenomenon. These more horizontal, organic, participatory, multidimensional and bottom-up interventions seek to interconnect organizations and actions based on shared objectives, methodologies and evaluation systems. The aim is to achieve a systemic impact and promote the coherence of drug policies with the objectives of sustainable development and the respect and promotion of the rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals and communities.