The United Nation Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) donated a series of bullet-traps to private security companies in Peru as part of its project entitled: Strengthening Oversight and Building Capacities for Small Arms Control and Nonproliferation in the Private Security Sector. The official handover took place on 26 May 2016 on the grounds of at the National Regulatory Entity for Security Service, Firearms, Ammunition and Explosives for Civilian Use (SUCAMEC).
The handover ceremony of bullet traps was attended by the companies that provide security services and that have participated in the project since it began in June 2015. The project’s main goal is to promote international standards and best practices in the control of arms and ammunition of private security companies, and to contribute to preventing mismanagement, theft or firearms accidents. The standards promoted are the UN International Small ArmsControl Standards (ISACS) and the International Ammunition Technical Guidelines (IATGs).
The bullet traps are devices that all depots must have as a preventive security measure, according to the international standards on small arms and ammunition control. Whenever firearms are received or handed over at the depots, the staff must ensure that the arms have been made safe, in other words, without ammunition inside them. This is known as dry firingand must be performed inside a bullet-trap, which consists of a metallic cylinder containing sand. The barrel of the arm is placed inside the cylinder to make the dry fire. In the case of an involuntary shot, the bullet is absorbed by the cylinder, which slows the bullet down and prevents ricocheting towards the shooter, thus avoiding fatal consequences due to an involuntary shot.
As part of this assistance, the private security companies received hazardous material warning stickers to be placed in the weapons and ammunition depots. These stickers were designed according to the UN Recommendation on the Transport of Dangerous Goods.
This project, which provides technical assistance to both SUCAMEC as a control and regulatory agency in charge of private security services in Peru, is implemented by UNLIREC in collaboration with the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) with the economic support of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Through this assistance package, UNLIREC supports Latin American and Caribbean States in strengthening public security and the UN Programme of Action on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects (UN 2001 PoA).
For more information on UNLIREC visit (www.unlirec.org). Please direct all questions or inquiries to Amanda Cowl, Political Affairs Officer (cowl@unlirec.org).