From 8 to 11 of August, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC), in collaboration with the Government of Jamaica carried out the pilot forensic ballistics collaborative competency testing exercise. These exercises are part of the third round of implementation under the framework of the UNLIREC’s Caribbean Operational Forensic Ballistics Assistance Package, which is made possible thanks to the support of the US Department of State and the Government of Canada.
The collaborative exercises are a series of practical and multiple choice exercises on the competencies of: small arms ammunition examination, examination of firearms and their components and trigger pull and travel examination. The exercises – based on UNLIREC’s standard operating procedures – were developed as a preparatory step for a regional framework of competency testing, at the same time, they can be used as an internal assessment tool for the forensic science institutes and laboratories of the region.
During this process, four firearms examiners from the Institute of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine of Jamaica were assessed, as well as one participant from the Firearms Licensing Authority. These assessments also support the internal identification of existing gaps in competency testing.
UNLIREC, as the regional organ of the UN Office for Disarmament, seeks to advance the cause of practical disarmament in Latin America and the Caribbean as part of its commitment to support Member States in their implementation of international disarmament and non-proliferation instruments, in particular, the 2001 UN Programme of Action on Small Arms.