UNLIREC supports Colombia in its efforts towards ATT implementation

The United Nations Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) held a Practical Seminar for the Implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty from 6-7 April in Bogota, Colombia.

Representatives of the institutions that make up the National Coordination Committee for the Prevention, Combat, and Eradication of Illicit Trafficking in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects (Comité TIA), participated in this seminar held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The seminar was delivered by the UNLIREC Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Programme team and attended by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Directorate of Tax and Customs (DIAN, for its initials in Spanish), the National Police, the Arms Trade Control Department, The Military Industry (INDUMIL, for its initials in Spanish) and other representatives of the Ministry of Defense.

Participants received information aimed at incorporating treaty obligations into the national system that controls the international transfers of conventional arms, their ammunition, and their parts and components. UNLIREC presented various illustrations of control systems with a focus on the operations to be undertaken, their composition and functioning, as well as inter-institutional cooperation mechanisms, and examples of practices in other States at the regional and international levels.

In addition, a working session was devoted to presenting the methodology of an export evaluation, prepared by UNLIREC, which gathers a series of criteria and sources of information to analyze prior to authorizing an export request in accordance with the requirements of the Treaty.

This seminar forms part of UNLIREC’s project entitled ‘Mitigating the Risk of Arms Divergence to Reduce Armed Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean’, which is funded by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. Through its assistance to Latin American and Caribbean States, UNLIREC supports improvements in peace, security, and in implementing the Arms Trade Treaty.