UN agency helps Jamaicans rebuild lives after deadly outbreak of violence

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is helping the residents of a district of the Jamaican capital rebuild their livelihoods in the wake of violent unrest earlier this year during a security operation aimed at arresting a man accused of running a drug cartel.

More than 65 civilians and three police officers are thought to have died during the security operation in May in the Tivoli Gardens neighbourhood of Kingston, while 14 police stations were attacked, the city’s municipal market was burned and roads to the airport were blocked. Police later arrested Christopher “Dudus” Coke, who stands accused of heading a major drug cartel.

UNDP set up a cash-for-work project for people who lost their livelihoods amid the violence and destruction, the agency reported yesterday. The vendors at the municipal market were among the hardest hit, and UNDP provided funds so local authorities could employ more than 300 locals to rehabilitate the site.

The agency also allocated funds to renew communities in western Kingston and to promote a national dialogue on such issues as the need for greater transparency and accountability in governance.

In addition, UNDP dispatched a team of pathology and ballistics experts from Australia, Canada, Colombia, Portugal and the United States to observe autopsies and analyze crime scenes in the wake of the violence and to support investigations of possible extra-judicial killings of civilians during the emergency.