UNITED NATIONS RECEIVES OVER $1.7 MILLION FROM MONEY AND ASSETS SEIZED FROM DRUG-RELATED CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES
Press Release
SOC/NAR/779
UNITED NATIONS RECEIVES OVER $1.7 MILLION FROM MONEY AND ASSETS SEIZED FROM DRUG-RELATED CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES
19980324 (Reissued as received; delayed in transmission.)VIENNA, 19 March (UN Information Service) -- The United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) yesterday received over $1.7 million in funds derived from money and assets confiscated from criminals involved in the drug trade. The contribution is the second from Luxembourg that was derived from the proceeds of drug-related criminal activities.
The Executive Director of the UNDCP, Pino Arlacchi, said that most of the contribution would support projects in Viet Nam and the Lao People's Democratic Republic aimed at eliminating dependency on opium production. He noted that Luxembourg was the only country that had applied the provision of the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances that encourages parties to contribute such proceeds to international organizations specializing in the fight against drugs.
The projects, which focus on specific provinces in those two countries, will address both economic dependency upon illicit opium production and the rising levels of drug abuse. Farmers will receive assistance to develop alternative sources of income. Education and health-care facilities will be improved with a special emphasis on drug-awareness education and treatment, as well as rehabilitation centres.
The UNDCP also received $200,000 in drug-derived assets from the Luxembourg fund -- Fonds de lutte contre le trafic des stupéfiants (Fund of the Fight against Drug Trafficking) -- last year. Those funds were used to train drug control officials in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru in money-laundering techniques and counter-narcotics field operations.
For further information, contact Sandro Tucci, spokesman for the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention at tel: (43-1) 21345 5629; fax: (43-1) 21345 5931; mobile: (43-664) 210 50 28.
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