Feb 25, 2013 | Uncategorized
From 25 February to 8 March 2013, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) – in close collaboration with the Government of Belize – conducted a 10-day training course to combat illicit firearms trafficking for Belizean security and justice sector officials.
The Inter-Institutional Training Course on Combating the Illicit Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition and Explosives (IITC), the first of its kind in Belize, was held at the Police Academy in Belmopan and resulted in the training of more than 40 law enforcement officers and justice operators. Course participants bolstered their ability to carry out interactive firearms investigative techniques in keeping with international standards and best practices. Participants received specialized training in the following areas: technical aspects of weapons and ammunition identification, intelligence gathering and crime scene management, tracing and preparation of evidence in criminal proceedings, as well as practical disarmament measures, such as weapons destruction and stockpile management. The course also covered cross-cutting issues related to the use of force, gender awareness and child protection.
Since 2004, UNLIREC has trained over 3,500 law enforcement officers throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, strengthening the capacities of States in the region to address the problem of the proliferation of and trafficking in firearms and ammunition.
On this occasion, UNLIREC also provided technical assistance to the Government of Belize for the destruction of more than 15,000 rounds of surplus small arms ammunition from 7-8 March 2013. The destruction of ammunition was carried out in collaboration with the Belizean Defence and Police Forces using UNLIREC’s patented SAABT (Small Arms Ammunition Burning Tank). In 2012, UNLIREC joined forces with the Belize Police and Defence Force in destroying more than 1,300 obsolete and seized firearms. All of the destruction activities contribute to reducing the risk of both diversion and unplanned explosions at munitions sites.
These activities, aimed at strengthening the capacity of the security forces and reducing armed violence in Belize and the region, form part of UNLIREC’s Firearms Assistance Package for Caribbean States. The activities carried out in Belize were made possible thanks to the financial support of the Government of the United States of America.
UNLIREC serves 33 countries in the region in assisting them in the development of disarmament policies and the implementation of international disarmament instruments, most notably the UN 2001 Programme of Action on Small Arms.
For more information on UNLIREC visit [www.unlirec.org]. Please direct all questions or inquiries to: Ms. Amanda Cowl, Political Affairs Officer at [cowl@unlirec.org].
Feb 18, 2013 | Uncategorized
On 14-15 February 2013, UNLIREC and the Verification, Research, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC), joined forces to assist Colombia in its implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC). This two-day workshop was the result of an official request by the country and was carried out in collaboration with the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The workshop brought together national representatives from all sectors of the Government including the health, commerce as well as the security and justice sectors. Several research and investigation organizations as well as private industry representatives also participated in this innovative workshop to discuss and review the main obligations contained in the BTWC.
Representatives from UNLIREC, VERTIC and the BTWC Implementation Support Unit provided national authorities with technical and legal guidance for the drafting of new legislation related to biological weapons. VERTIC’s comprehensive legal diagnostic served as the basis for the debate. The 2012 study compares current national legislation with the provisions found in the BTWC. The Seminar also provided an opportunity to discuss the creation of a national commission which would be responsible for the coordination and monitoring of the implementation of the BTWC. As a result of the Workshop, an informal working group chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was formed. This working group will spearhead the establishment of the national commission and legal reform process. The working group will also be responsible for the preparation and submission of Colombia’s 2013 Confidence Building Measures Forms.
The UNLIREC and VERTIC partnership will continue to focus on raising awareness among States in the region of the obligations set out under the BTWC and providing legal assistance in the revision and drafting of national legislation to ensure consistency with the obligations found in the BTWC Convention, as well as other non-proliferation instruments.
For further information on UNLIREC, visit (www.unlirec.org). For inquiries please contact: Amanda Cowl, Political Affairs Officer mailto:cowl@unlirec.org
Feb 18, 2013 | Uncategorized
From 18 – 22 February 2013 the United Nations Office for Disarmament’s Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) conducted a national firearms baseline assessment mission in Suriname. This mission is the initial segment of technical cooperation between UNLIREC and Suriname.
UNLIREC Experts were in Paramaribo at the request of the Government of Suriname as the first step in UNLIREC assistance to this country under Phase II of its Caribbean Firearms Stockpile Management and Destruction Assistance Package, made possible with the financial support of the US Department of State Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement.
UNLIREC´s Caribbean Assistance Package was launched in April 2010 and offers assistance and support to fourteen Caribbean countries. While in Suriname, the UNLIREC Team met with senior government officials including the Ministers of Defence, Justice and Police, and Finance; the Director of the National Security Agency; the Prosecutor General; the Commander of the Suriname Armed Forces; and the Commander of the Suriname Police Force. The Team also made site visits to weapons and ammunition stockpile facilities.
The Team will submit a baseline assessment report and a draft National Action Plan (NAP) to the Government of Suriname by the end of March 2013. The draft NAP will make recommendations for assistance in the areas of stockpile management, firearms and ammunition destruction; legal and policy review and development; and training and capacity-building of law enforcement officials, including an Inter-Institutional Training Course on Combating Illicit Firearms Trafficking (IITC) and Surinamese participation in a Caribbean Regional Armoury Management Training Course. The assistance provided by UNLIREC will contribute to the combat of illicit trafficking of firearms, ammunition and explosives and thus to greater security in Suriname and the region.
UNLIREC, the regional arm of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, is based in Lima, Peru and serves 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. A key element of UNLIREC’s mandate is to assist States in the implementation of arms control and disarmament programmes, such as the implementation of the 2001 UN Programme of Action on Small Arms.
For further information on UNLIREC visit (www.unlirec.org). For inquiries please contact: Amanda Cowl, Political Affairs Officer: cowl@unlirec.org
Nov 26, 2012 | Uncategorized
As part of UNLIREC’s efforts to support to the Government of Honduras in improving public security and implementing the Security Strategy of the Central American Integration System (SICA), UNLIREC undertook two initiatives in November 2012, thanks to the financial support provided by the Governments of Finland and Germany.
From 5 to 16 November, UNLIREC´s Inter Institutional Training Course on Combating the Illicit Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition and Explosives (IITC) trained 62 security sector personnel (46 men and 16 women) from a diverse range of law enforcement and justice entities. Participants received specialized training from international and national experts in weapons and ammunition identification, investigation and tracing techniques, firearms and ammunition evidence management. The training was delivered in the context of international, regional and national legal frameworks to combat illicit firearms trafficking, as well as human security and human rights. The ten-day course culminated in a two-day simulation exercise where participants had to intervene, prepare and prosecute a case of illicit weapons trafficking in full coherence with the rule of law and respect for human rights and the rights of minors.
Additionally, UNLIREC co-organized on 14 November a high-level policy seminar on disarmament, firearms control and armed violence reduction jointly with the National Secretariat for Public Security and the United Nations Development Programme. The seminar presented contemporary policy frameworks designed to enhance small arms control and armed violence reduction efforts. Lessons were drawn from Brazil´s National Disarmament Campaign and El Salvador´s Weapons-Free Municipalities intervention. Both experiences were assessed in terms of their applicability to the Honduran context. During the seminar, H.E. Coralia Rivera, Vice-Minister for Security, told participants “that the recommendations put forth during the seminar would be taken into consideration during future legal reforms.”
For more information on UNLIREC visit (www.unlirec.org).
Please direct all inquiries to: Ms. Carina Van Vliet, Political Affairs Officer, at (vanvliet@unlirec.org).
Nov 19, 2012 | Uncategorized
From 12 to 16 November 2012, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) assisted the Armed Forces of the Dominican Republic in the destruction of 1,400 surplus firearms and more than 300,000 rounds of small arms ammunition (approximately 8 tons). The destruction activities were conducted using UNLIREC´s Standard Operating Procedures, which are in accordance with the UN International Small Arms Control Standards (ISACS) and the UN International Ammunition Technical Guidelines (IATG). The destruction process included monitoring and verification by Dominican authorities and UNLIREC representatives. These initial destruction activities set the stage for a robust agenda of technical cooperation between UNLIREC and the Dominican Republic in 2013.
“The periodic destruction of weapons and ammunition constitutes one of the most effective means of ensuring that they do not make their way back onto the streets and/or are not diverted to criminal networks” said UNLIREC Senior Technical Officer Rodolfo Gamboa.
On this occasion the weapons were destroyed by smelting through a public-private partnership overseen by the Government of the Dominican Republic, in cooperation with UNLIREC. UNLIREC has also donated to the Government a small arms ammunition and pyrotechnics burning tan, which was used to destroy the 300,000 rounds of ammunition. UNLIREC will continue to work with the Ministry of the Armed Forces in early 2013 to destroy thousands more weapons and rounds of ammunition.
The technical assistance was made possible thanks to a grant from the US Department of State´s Office for Weapons Removal and Abatement. It forms part of a broader UNLIREC Caribbean Assistance Programme, which began in 2010, and is being carried out in thirteen CARICOM countries with the support of the United States and Canada. Since September 2010, UNLIREC has assisted the Government of the Dominican Republic in the development of a National Action Plan on Stockpile Management and Firearms Destruction, in securing of stockpile facilities through the provision of international standard padlocks and a set of hydraulic shears for the periodic destruction of weapons. UNLIREC has also assisted in training law enforcement officials to better combat illicit firearms trafficking and in providing recommendations on legal reforms and updates to the national firearms act. The latter aims to bring Dominican legislation in line with international agreements and reduce loopholes that can be exploited by illicit traffickers in firearms, ammunition and explosives.
For more information on UNLIREC visit (www.unlirec.org.)
Please direct all inquiries to: Ms. Carina Van Vliet, Political Affairs Officer (vanvliet@unlirec.org).
Nov 16, 2012 | Uncategorized
From 12 to 15 November 2012, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) and the Government of The Bahamas destroyed 431confiscated firearms held by the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) and the Customs and Immigration Department, as well as 2.3 tonnes of obsolete and confiscated small arms ammunition. Both destruction processes were monitored by UNLIREC and Bahamian government representatives and served to demonstrate the Government´s commitment to implement the UN Programme of Action on small arms.
All firearms were destroyed using a set of hydraulic shears donated by UNLIREC to the Government of the Bahamas in May 2012 using UNLIREC Standard Operating Procedures, which are based on the UN International Small Arms Control Standards (ISACS). The ammunition destruction took place at the Police Firing Range using UNLIREC Standard Operating Procedures for field expedient small arms ammunition destruction, which are based on the UN International Ammunition Technical Guidelines (IATG). Ten Bahamian government officials were trained during the UNLIREC mission, thus establishing a long-term technical and human resource capacity in The Bahamas to destroy surplus, obsolete and confiscated weapons and ammunition over time. The periodic destruction of surplus, obsolete and confiscated weapons and ammunition constitutes one of the most effective means of ensuring that they do not make their way back onto the streets and/or are not diverted to criminal networks.
The technical support provided to the Government of The Bahamas forms part of UNLIREC´s Firearms and Ammunition Stockpile Management and Destruction Assistance Package for the Caribbean, supported thanks to a grant provided by the United States Department of State´s Office for Weapons Removal and Abatement.
The Office for Disarmament Affairs’ Regional Disarmament Centres, which include UNLIREC, serves over 135 countries worldwide and assists them in the implementation of arms control and disarmament programmes, such as the implementation of the UN 2001 Programme of Action on Small Arms.
For more information on UNLIREC visit (www.unlirec.org.) Please direct all questions or inquiries to: Ms. Carina Van Vliet, Political Affairs Officer at (vanvliet@unlirec.org)
