International: The Workshop to strengthen the Dominican Republic’s Drug Treatment Court opened today at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santo Domingo.
In a brief ceremony, the need for a human rights approach in drug prevention strategies and the critical importance of national and international cooperation and strategic alliances in the fight against drugs were two themes that resonated in remarks, delivered by General (Rtd) Rafael Guerrero Peralta, President of the National Council For Drugs, Beverly Reynolds, Coordinator of the Human and Development Programme, CARICOM Secretariat, Ambassador Gianluca Grippa, Head of European Delegation in the Dominican Republic, Architect Jaime Felipe, Deputy Director of the DIGICOM and Judge Alberto Amiot Rodriguez, President of the Second Justice of Garantia de Santiago de Chile.
The capacity building initiative is part of the response under the Drug Demand Reduction (DDR) component of the Tenth European Development Fund (EDF) Crime and Security Programme between the European Union and the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States.
The CARICOM Secretariat has collaborated with the Government of the Dominican Republic and the Executive Secretariat of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) of the Organization of American States (OAS) to strengthen Dominica’s existing Drug Treatment Court Initiative and to expand its operations to include juveniles and adolescence.
CARIFORUM is the body that comprises Caribbean ACP States that promotes and coordinates policy dialogue, cooperation and regional integration, mainly within the framework of the Cotonou Agreement between the ACP and the European Union.