Friday, September 29, 2006

by  Ivan Cairo
Caribbean Net News Suriname Correspondent
Email: ivan@caribbeannetnews.com

PARAMARIBO, Suriname: Suriname and the United States of America on Wednesday signed an Amendment to their Letter of Agreement on support for law enforcement programmes, ensuring continued close cooperation for another year.

This agreement will provide an additional US$60,000 for equipment, vehicles and training to improve the Suriname Police Force’s ability to target drug traffickers and organized criminal groups US Chargé d’Affaires, Tom Genton said at the signing ceremony.

Funds will also provide training for court personnel to effectively use a computerized system for managing and tracking court cases while the Prosecutor’s ability to successfully prosecute criminal organizations will also be improved. The resources will also be used to provide training for law enforcement personnel in the areas of asset forfeiture and money laundering.

Both Genton and Suriname’s Justice Minister Chandrikapersad Santokhi noted the significant improvement Suriname made recently in the fight against drug trafficking and international crime.

According to the US diplomat Suriname has demonstrated its commitment to address the growing threats posed by transnational crime. Addressing the UN General Assembly last week President Ronald Venetiaan stressed international cooperation is needed to formulate an effective international response against drug trafficking, organized crime, terrorism and other transnational crimes.

Over the past years the country has made significant improvements in combating trafficking in persons. Partly based on these results, Washington provided an additional US$100,000 to further improve the ability of the Surinamese authorities to stop trafficking in persons.

Earlier this year law enforcement officers detained several drug suspects while over 200 kilos of cocaine were seized in Nickerie. On August 24, the Narcotics Squad seized 95 kilos of cocaine and detained 4 suspects.

At the signing ceremony minister Santokhi disclosed that Suriname will host an international Anti-Narcotics Conference in October to enhance cooperation in combating the illicit trade in drugs, small arms and weapons and dismantling criminal organizations.

Santokhi further noted that, although the phenomenon of trafficking in persons was a new challenge to the authorities during the last couple of years, Suriname has made serious efforts to combat this crime. These efforts have eventually resulted in a steady progress in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report of the US State Department.

Suriname climbed from the worst Tier 3 status for countries not doing anything to fight trafficking in persons in 2003 to a Tier 2 status in 2006. “Internationally this paints a positive picture of Suriname and on the other hand it illustrates that our efforts are paying off,” said the minister.

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