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