From 22 to24 July and 1 to2 August 2024, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC), in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior of Guatemala, conducted the virtual edition of the Course on Gender Perspective in Arms Control (GENCAF).
Approximately 30 officials from government institutions that comprise the National Violence Prevention Commission –participated, including the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Technical Secretariat of the National Security Council, the National Police, the Strategic State Intelligence Secretariat;, the Ministry of Health and Social Assistance, and the Presidential Secretariat for Women (SEPREM).
The fact that most gun owners are men, along with the high levels of violence are associated with young men – both as perpetrators and victims – are not issues disconnected from gender roles. This is also true for the excessive and unregulated presence of firearms and the alarming rates of violence against women. According to data from ECLAC’s Gender Equality Observatory (consulted in October 2023), an average of twelve femicides were committed daily in the Latin American and Caribbean region during 2021.
In response to this problem, UNLIREC addresses key concepts related to gender and firearms through the GENCAF course. The course presents s the different global policy frameworks and emphasizes the importance of disaggregated statistical data as a crucial first step in diagnosing armed violence from a gender and intersectional perspective. Additionally, the course aims to promote inter-institutional cooperation among the participating national sectors.
The GENCAF course includes live sessions that allow participants to engage and share their experiences and reflections, as well as self-managed virtual sessions available on the Disarmament Education Dashboard.
It is worth noting that, to foster reflection on the context in Guatemala, the course included presentations national institutions, such as the Statistics Section of the National Police, the Ministry of the Interior and the civil society organization IEPADES (Instituto de Enseñanza para el Desarrollo Sostenible).
The Course on Gender Perspective in Arms Control (GENCAF) is part of the technical assistance provided by UNLIREC under the project Supporting the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, which is funded by the European Union.