UNITED NATIONS (CMC):

Barbados yesterday urged the United Nations (UN) to urgently reverse the decision to close its regional drug and crime office, while lamenting the level of developmental assistance the international community was giving developing states.

Senior Minister Dame Billie Miller, in an address to the 62nd UN General Assembly, said the closure of the Barbados-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime which served 29 countries, made the region more vulnerable to transnational organised criminals who were using the region for their illicit trade.

"Barbados and the countries of CARICOM (Caribbean Community) are neither major suppliers nor demand markets for illicit drugs, yet, because of our geographical position and external factors beyond our control, we find ourselves affected by the illicit trafficking in drugs, small arms and light weapons and their constant companion, transnational organised crime," she said.