The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) continues assisting States in the region in the implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). On 8 December, UNLIREC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador inaugurated the roundtable on the process towards creating a national control authority for ATT implementation.
This activity targeted 30 national authorities in charge of conventional arms transfer controls from six different institutions. This workshop, the first of its kind delivered by UNLIREC, also benefitted from the technical input of a member of Argentina’s Executive Secretary of the National Commission to Control Strategic Materials, Sensitive Exports, and War Materials (CONCESYMB, for its acronym in Spanish) and the Director of the National Firearms Register (RENAR, for its acronym in Spanish) also from Argentina.
The main purpose of the two-day roundtable was to provide States with guidelines on the creation of a national control authority responsible for arms transfers and other elements in compliance with the provisions found in the Arms Trade Treaty and provide examples of international standards and models from other States at both the regional and global levels. Moreover, the activity created a space for structured discussion on the essential aspects to be taken into consideration when creating the national authority. Aspects such as composition, functions, functionality and inter-institutional cooperation.
This roundtable and all instruction materials are available to ATT State Parties in Latin America and the Caribbean thanks to the financial support from the Federal Government of Germany. To date, 20 countries in this region have ratified the ATT, which came into force last 24 December 2014: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominica, The Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. It is expected that in the coming months other States in the region will join the group of ratifying States.
For more information about UNLIREC, visit (www.unlirec.org) or contact Amanda Cowl, Political Affairs Officer (cowl@unlirec.org).