The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) carried out a mission to El Salvador on 23-27 November 2015 with a view to advancing the coordination and implementation of activities that form part of the project entitled strengthening capacities for the effective and transparent management of small arms and ammunition in the private security sector.
The main goal of the mission, carried out by UNLIREC, in conjunction with its partners in the Salvadoran government and the country’s private security sector, was to promote best practices in arms and ammunition management in private security companies based on the United Nations International Small Arms Control Standards (ISACS), in particular ISACS module 05.20 on stockpile management. The objective of this project is to prevent arms theft and the diversion of arms and ammunition from the private security sector into illegal channels.
Over the course of the week, UNLIREC experts analyzed the levels of ISACS compliance in five Salvadoran security companies and made recommendations for increasing those levels of compliance and improving security and management. Additionally, they met with arms manufacturers and arsenal managers from private security companies to follow up on the training they received in the UNLIREC stockpile management course imparted in July 2015.
Upon completion of the mission, all interested parties agreed upon the 2016 roadmap and the inclusion of secondary markings to arms belonging to security companies with the use of laser technology. This type of secondary marking helps to improve stockpile management and comply with international agreements on combating illicit small arms trafficking. The technical guidelines for the markings are based on various international instruments and on ISACS module 05.30 on marking and registry management.
The project entitled ‘strengthening capacities for effective and transparent management of small arms and ammunition in the private security sector’, which is financed by the Federal Republic of Germany, is implemented in association with the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). Its main goal is to promote internationally-accepted standards, good practices, and initiatives, such as the ISACS and the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers (ICoC).
By providing assistance to Latin American and Caribbean States, UNLIREC supports improvements in public security and the implementation of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms (UN 2001 PoA).
For more information about UNLIREC, visit (www.unlirec.org) or contact Amanda Cowl, Political Affairs Officer, (cowl@unlirec.org).