From 3 to 6 June, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC), in collaboration with the Government of Saint Lucia, carried out a Serial Number Restoration Course for participants from the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force and Saint Lucia Forensic Science Laboratory.

This course was developed to support States’ efforts to restore the characters and numbers that have been removed from firearms and to trace firearms.

The 4-day course consisted of recorded videos, live demonstrations, as well as hands-on use of Magnaflux and Chemical Etching to restore/recover serial numbers from firearms that have been obliterated and submitted for analysis.

Seven officials (including 3 women) including police officers and forensic scientists from the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force and Forensic Science Laboratory, participated in the training.
In the Caribbean, several factors hinder the ability of States to trace the totality of recovered illicit firearms, including the age of the firearm, ineffective procedures, absence of serial numbers on firearms and the lack of capacity to unmask the origin of illicit firearms. Throughout the region, restoration techniques have been used to support criminal investigations and successfully trace weapons and even disband trafficking networks.

UNLIREC, as the regional arm of the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs, seeks to advance the cause of practical disarmament in Latin America and the Caribbean as part of its commitment to support Member States.

The Serial Number Restoration Course contributes towards the implementation of Goal 3 of the Caribbean Firearms Roadmap, “Bolster law enforcement capacity to combat illicit firearms and ammunition trafficking and their illicit possession and misuse, and ammunition, and ultimately reducing firearms-related crimes and armed violence in the Caribbean.

This activity was made possible thanks to funding from the Government of Germany and contributes to the implementation of international disarmament and non-proliferation instruments, in particular, the 2001 UN Programme of Action on Small Arms.