As part of its technical assistance package to strengthen the implementation of UNSCR 1540 (2004), the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) partnered with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on 9 and 10 December 2015 to conduct a risk management table top exercise in maritime security in collaboration with the Belize Police Department. Nearly 20 stakeholders from various agencies and institutions (including the national police, coast guard and port authority) engaged in active discussions around a series of potential threat scenarios and cases presented by the IMO experts. Participants addressed issues relating to inter-institutional coordination, adoption of preventive and reactive measures to certain threats, review of existing operating procedures, existing legal framework and mechanisms for establishing roles and responsibilities of relevant institutions.
This table top exercise, aimed specifically at addressing the obligations on adoption of border control measures contained in operative paragraph 3 of resolution 1540 (2004), complements UNLIREC’s work in Belize in other critical areas, such as modernization of legislation and export controls.
UNLIREC has reaffirmed its commitment to continued collaboration with the Government of Belize to further strengthen the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004) in the country. To this effect, it has continued to engage with the various stakeholders to prepare a voluntary national action plan for the implementation of the resolution. This document is now in its final stages, and senior officials at the Ministry of National Security have indicated interest in completing the draft and submitting it to the 1540 Committee through the appropriate channels in the coming weeks.
UNLIREC will maintain its partnership with the IMO to deliver similar risk management courses in other target states in the Caribbean.
This exercise forms part of UNLIREC’s 1540 Assistance Package for Caribbean States, with the financial support of the United States Department of State´s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.
For more information about UNLIREC, visit (www.unlirec.org) or contact Amanda Cowl, Political Affairs Officer, at (cowl@unlirec.org).