The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC), provided technical and legal assistance to the Dominican Republic, from 31 August to 1 September 2016, as part of its support to States in the region towards strengthening the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004). This resolution imposes binding obligations on all States to adopt legislative measures to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and their delivery systems, and establish appropriate national controls over related materials aimed at preventing their illicit trafficking.
During the mission, UNLIREC, accompanied by a former member of the Group of Experts of the 1540 Committee, provided comments and recommendations about the draft bill against the proliferation of WMD that the country has been developing since September 2015. Based on the inputs of UNLIREC, legal advisers and representatives of different government sectors, present in the session, undertook a further revision of the draft bill to ensure a proper consistency with the provisions of Resolution 1540. The discussions focused mainly on the development of a roadmap for the preparation of future regulatory provisions, an area in which UNLIREC will continue supporting the Dominican Republic thanks to the financial contribution of Canada.
This draft bill and its future regulation constitute a significant step forward in the country’s efforts to strengthen the implementation of UNSCR 1540 (2004), as it will provide the country with a solid legal basis for establishing trade controls of related materials and adopting measures to counter WMD proliferation.