Impact case study database

Although measuring the effectiveness of drug and crime control policies has been an area of increasing concern for some time (see R1), it is only recently that the issue of policy metrics has ‘broken the surface’ and become a major point of attention for the drug and crime control community at both the national and international level. This has taken place within an environment where a growing number of policy actors are recognizing important connections between the international drug control regime and other regimes (e.g., human rights) and UN system-wide initiatives such as the Sustainable Development Agenda. Through a combination of both academic and grey literature publications, high-level presentations at the UN in New York, Geneva, Vienna and think-tanks in the UK and US, as well as face-to-face briefings with a range of end-users, Bewley-Taylor’s metrics focused research has made a substantial contribution to this twin process, in terms of both significance and reach.

*Government level impact *

For example, in relation to impact significance, having attended a Chatham House event in November 2014, UK civil servants from the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT) became interested in his research. On the back of this, since early 2015 Bewley-Taylor has been an expert advisor to the OSCT in its work across a range of portfolios including UK’s activities at the UN Crime Congress, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.  Among other things, his advice on multilateral engagement helped shape the approach to and draft language for the UK delegation’s negotiations around the Doha Declaration in April 2015 and influence the government’s assessment of transnational criminality more broadly. Commenting on his general guidance on the focus of impact indicators as well as specific metrics related language used during the 2015 negotiations, a senior Home Office official noted how Bewley-Taylor’s work had ‘ influenced the shape of the Home Office’s International Impact Framework on Serious and Organised Crime’ and contributed ‘particularly instructive’ input on the Declaration [C1].

Furthermore, Bewley-Taylor’s advisory role with the Swiss government (2016-present), including Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health and the Swiss Federal Office of Police, and the joint organisation of CND side-events since 2014, has influenced Bern’s approach to the measuring the effectiveness of drugs and crime policies. As noted by an official of the Federal Office of Police, Bewley-Taylor’s work has ‘ contributed to Switzerland having become seen as one of the proponents of changing international drug control by changing how states perceive the world drug problem’ [C2]. This was a view echoed by a colleague from the Directorate of Political Affairs’ who stressed that his ‘ inputs were highly relevant and instrumental in our efforts to promote an evidence-based and health oriented approach to drug policy’ [C3].

Ongoing work, including briefings, with the Norwegian government has also had a similar impact, including in the wording of country statements within the CND in Vienna. This is evidenced by the views of the Senior Drug Policy Advisor, Ministry of Health and Care Services’ and the First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Norway to the International Organisations in Vienna. They point out that Bewley-Taylor’s ‘ input has helped change the way we as Norwegian policy makers view the issue area and have presented our position within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs’ [C4].

UN agency impact

In June 2018 Bewley-Taylor presented research in Geneva as an invited member of an Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expert group and the following summer was an expert member of a OHCHR delegation to a UN Office on Drugs and Crime inter-agency expert meeting on drug policy metrics in Vienna. Such activity, and other work with the OHCHR including informal briefings, presentations, and dissemination of research publications, has impacted the agency’s approach to the issue. In the words of the OHCHR Human Rights and Drug Policy Advisor, ‘Bewley-Taylor’s ground-breaking work on drug policy metrics and indicators has been significant in helping change the way the Office approaches measurement of intersections between drug policy and human rights’ [C5]. His impact is also evidenced in the citation of his submission to the OHCHR in a major report to the UN Human Rights Council in a September 2018 [C6].

International non-governmental organisation impact

Over the course of the census period, and demonstrating the reach of his work, Bewley-Taylor’s engagement with a range of INGOs has resulted in uptake of his research and a subsequent impact upon their policy positions. For instance, according to the Vice President of the New York based International Peace Institute, as core member of the IPI’s International Expert Group on Drug Policy Metrics, his ‘original contributions’ helped provide Group’s 2018 report ‘with the credibility and added value necessary for it to be accepted as an official document of the 61^st Session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs’. Moreover , it was noted how ‘Bewley-Taylor’s work in the field of drug policy metrics and indicators has contributed to a change in the IPI’s approach to assessing the effectiveness of international drug policy and our work with the UN member states’ [C7]. The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), a global network of over 190 NGOs that focus on a range of drug policy issues, has also embraced his work and applied it to its position on policy monitoring and assessment. As the Executive Director has noted ‘ Bewley-Taylor’s research has demonstrably changed IDPC views on drug policy metrics and indicators. As such it directly effects our policy position and advocacy goals, as well as those of our membership, within a range of forums at national, regional, and multinational levels’ [C8]. Furthermore, the Global Commission on Drug Policy has noted that its ‘ longstanding collaboration with Professor Bewley-Taylor has done much to change the way it views the measurement of drug policy effectiveness and consequently approaches this vital issue in its work. Engagement with his ground-breaking research on drug policy metrics and indicators…has assisted the Commissioner’s in re-framing notions of policy success and deepened their resolve to emphasize the measurement of public health and a range of other human rights related outcomes’** [C9].