New U.N. initiatives to reduce drug trafficking, increase food distribution

Last week, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) announced a project that, according to the U.N., seeks to “reinforce the ability of the Afghan legal system to bring drug traffickers to justice,” the UN News Service reported on May 14. The completion of a justice support center in Jalalabad allows for all aspects of the anti-trafficking initiative – from processing those arrested to conducting the trials – to be handled under one roof. The need for the center stems from security concerns related to the booking and prosecuting of traffickers in the region.

Aleem Siddique, a spokesperson for the U.N. Assistance Mission (UNAMA), said the new justice support centers “will play a vital role in strengthening Afghanistan’s judicial system and will eventually help to bring to book some of Afghanistan’s biggest drug traffickers, aiming to end impunity and prevent the scourge of narcotics from undermining Afghanistan’s progress.”

UNAMA has also recently announced a food for work program in Kunar, Lahman and Nangarhar provinces which seeks to duplicate the success of school feeding programs in the region that benefited nearly 35,000 students and patients. The World Food Programme (WFP) plans to provide over 520,000 tons of food to over 5.4 million Afghans through the end of 2008.

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For more information on UNAMA projects, click here.

For insight into WFP projects in Afghanistan, click here.