(Dec. 2, 2016) In October 2016, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) announced that ten countries in Latin America and Africa will participate in a UNODC program aimed at combatting international drug trafficking. (Press Release, UNODC Launches CRIMJUST Project to Address Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Across Regions (Oct. 18, 2016), UNODC website.) The countries participating in this initiative are Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Panama, and Peru. (Id.)
The program is known as CRIMJUST, and its objective is to “contribute to effectively fighting organized crime in general, and drug trafficking in particular, along the cocaine route(s) in Latin America, the Caribbean and West Africa.” (Id.) To serve this purpose, the UNODC will assist the countries participating in the program in strengthening the integrity and capacity of their criminal justice systems, with the goal of successfully prosecuting cases of drug trafficking, an activity that is increasingly common in routes between these countries. (Id.)