UN-LiREC’s training course selected as regional best practice on firearms control   (Panama City, Oct.- 2010) – On 25 October 2010 UN-LiREC´s Inter Institutional Training Course for Combating Illicit Firearms Trafficking (IITC) was selected as the Best Practice in the category of Regional Arms Control Initiatives by the General Secretariat of the Central American Integration System (SICA), the United Nations Development Programme´s (UNDP) Regional Centre or Latin America and the Caribbean and the Spanish International Cooperation Agency for Development (AECID) as part of the knowledge fair Compromiso Centroamérica: a space to build a safe region. The IITC was selected along with other experiences in the categories of youth violence prevention, gender, anti-corruption police and judicial reform as concrete inputs toward the development of a comprehensive regional security strategy for Central America and Mexico. The IITC is a 10-day training course (7.5 days classroom theory and 2.5 days of field simulation exercises) targeted at mid-level officials from armed forces, police, intelligence, judicial and customs sectors focused on providing participants with the conceptual, technical and institutional coordination skills required to both prevent and respond to illicit trafficking in firearms, ammunition and explosives. The course´s practical exercise simulates an intervention against cases of illicit firearms trafficking from the point of intelligence gathering to intervention, crime scene management and presentation of evidence and testimony before a judge. During the simulation participants are judged on their performance in human rights, use of force, gender sensitivity and child protection in addition to the technical aspects of accurate firearms and ammunition identification, tracing and preparation as evidence in criminal proceedings. IITC is the 2nd version of UN-LiREC´s training programme designed to support states in their implementation of the UN Programme of Action. Since 2004, UN-LiREC has trained more than 2,700 law enforcement officials from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay. This 2nd version integrates material to support additional implementation of the International Tracing Instrument, Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development; UNODA´s gender guidelines for effective PoA implementation as well as important elements of the criminal justice and judicial processes as many Latin American and Caribbean countries transition to new accusatorial criminal justice systems. This public recognition of IITC contributions by the international community combined with the ongoing demand of Latin American and Caribbean governments for further training motivates UN-LiREC to continue implementing and adapting the courses to meet member States´ needs. For more information on IITC visit: http://www.unlirec.org/OurWork/IITC.html For more information on Compromiso Centroamérica visit: http://www.compromisocentroamerica.org/en.html For further information, please contact: Bárbara Ortiz +51.1.625.9113 [ortiz@unlirec.org].