From 13 to 15 March 2023, officials from the Barbados Police Service, Barbados Defence Force and Customs and Excise Department participated in the virtual Physical Security and Stockpile Management (PSSM) Training Workshop which sought to strengthen States’ capacities to reinforce national mechanisms to reduce and prevent the diversion of conventional weapons and ammunition and improve law enforcement capacity to secure stockpile facilities.
As a result of this workshop national officers are now more knowledgeable on international standards and best practices in physical security and stockpile management, marking and recordkeeping. The topics covered addressed the relevance of national mechanisms to reduce and prevent the diversion of firearms and ammunition from national stockpiles.
The PSSM Training Workshop forms part of the technical assistance provided by the Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) within the “Preventing Diversion of Conventional Arms and Ammunition in the Caribbean” funded by the United States of America.
It should be noted that this course also contributes to Goal 4 of the Caribbean Firearms Roadmap, “Systematically decrease the risk of diversion of firearms and ammunition from government- and non-government-owned arsenals”, and thus aids regional efforts to prevent illicit trafficking in firearms and ammunition and armed violence in the Caribbean.