Afghanistan (Hansard, 9 June 2004)

§ Mr. George Osborne
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the tonnage of the forthcoming opium harvest in Afghanistan. [176903]

§ Mr. Rammell
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducts an annual survey into the level of opium poppy cultivation and production in Afghanistan. The most recent survey, published in October 2003, showed that the level of opium cultivation in 2003 was 80,000 hectares and production was 3,600 tonnes. The UNODC is in the process of assessing the 2004 harvest in conjunction with the Afghan government. Its report will be published in the autumn.

§ Mr. Bercow
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Government of Afghanistan about the reform of the country's criminal justice system. [177112]

§ Mr. Mike O'Brien
My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office raised this when he visited Afghanistan in May 2004 in the context of tackling drugs crime in Afghanistan.

§ Mr. Bercow
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what resources are provided by(a) his Department and (b) the European Union to reconstruct and rehabilitate detention and prison facilities in Afghanistan. [177115]

§ Mr. Mike O'Brien
Italy leads international assistance for Afghanistan on judicial reform, including penal reform, and Germany leads assistance on reform of the police. Neither the UK nor the European Commission is involved in funding reconstruction or rehabilitation of prison or detention facilities in Afghanistan. We do not have information on projects which may be funded by other countries.
More widely, the UK has since the war in Afghanistan supported Penal Reform International to undertake work on capacity-building within the penal sector, including staff training. The UK has also contributed £1 million to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) programme for judicial reform. The European Commission is working with Italy in the justice sector to help refurbish the district judicial system (courts) and train local staff.