The minister highlighted that the National Secretariat for Drug Policy and Asset Management (SENAD) is working on the restructuring of drug policy in Brazil, focusing on issues such as prevention, harm reduction, social reintegration and the guarantee of human rights. "A policy that will not be based on prejudice, but on evidence and research, on international best practices. And the partnership with UNODC is fundamental in this sense", he said. 

"Brazil has many good practces on drugs. We have a historical partnership with SENAD, and we are available to support MJSP in the most appropriate way, within the established priorities, and to give visibility to the country's policies," said Elena Abbati. 

"The partnership with UNODC helps us put the drug policy on the rails of evidence," stressed SENAD secretary, Marta Machado, for whom the visions on drug policies of both entities are very convergent with progressive movements and international best practices. "We have new goals and priorities such as the resumption of the prevention agenda, how to act on repression so as not to generate more inequalities and give continuity to what was successful in a way that incorporates the new objectives", she said. 

Amazon 

The consequences of the humanitarian crisis in the Yanomami Land and the security of the entire Amazon region were also a theme of the meeting. The minister showed his concern with the challenge related to the issue of illicit activities in the Amazon and with the need to create economic alternatives for people who work, for example, in illegal mining. 

Human trafficking and slave labour are also issues that are on UNODC agenda and are strongly fought by MJSP. The National Secretary of Justice, Augusto de Arruda Botelho, explained that the teams that deal with these issues have been recently reformulated and now have more prepared professionals with a more humanized view. 

UNODC projects 

UNODC maintains several initiatives together with MJSP. One of these is the Center of Excellence for Drug Supply Reduction (CdE), which is the result of a partnership between SENAD and UNDP. The Tapajos project, which analyzes the activity of gold mining in the Tapajos River basin, is coordinated by UNODC and the University of Chicago and has the support of the National Secretariat of Justice (SENAJUS), in addition to other partners such as universities. 

During the meeting were delivered to the minister manuals, guides and information on criminal policy prepared in partnership with the National Council of Justice (CNJ) and UNDP, and the recently published report on monitoring the integrity of the use of police force in the territories of the Opportunities and Rights Program (POD), in Rio Grande do Sul - initiatives that serve as a reference for future projects and for strengthening the partnership between MJSP and UNODC.