WORKSHOP ON PROBLEMS WITH CIVILIAN-OWNED FIREARMS IN AMERICAS CONCLUDES IN SAO PAULO, BRAZIL

17 December 1997

Press Release
SOC/CP/202

WORKSHOP ON PROBLEMS WITH CIVILIAN-OWNED FIREARMS IN AMERICAS CONCLUDES IN SAO PAULO, BRAZIL

19971217 VIENNA, 15 December (UN Information Service) -- The question of how to improve and coordinate ongoing efforts to stem violence and crime involving the use of firearms in communities throughout the Americas was high on the agenda of a United Nations workshop which ended on Friday, 12 December, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Issues considered during the one-week session included regulatory loopholes, the need for greater information-sharing among countries, and inadequate import, export and in-transit controls. "Increased violence stemming from the criminal misuse of firearms among civilians is particularly worrying", said Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention. Illicit firearms are increasingly spreading among civilian populations, smuggled across borders or stolen from police and defense forces, and are used for activities associated with crimes. In the course of the discussion, participants agreed that tighter control over the legal movement of firearms at the international level is urgently required in order to improve the control over their criminal misuse and illicit trafficking. During the workshop, participants witnessed the destruction of voluntarily surrendered firearms. Sponsors of that grass-roots initiative, the Sao Paulo Bar Association and law students of Sao Paulo University, highlighted that 83 per cent of homicides committed in Sao Paulo were carried out using firearms. The ceremony was intended to be a demonstration of the growing confidence of residents in local law enforcement authorities. The meeting was the third in a series of four regional workshops, following up on the first-ever international survey of firearm ownership and regulation, a preliminary version of which was released in Vienna earlier this year. The final version of the survey, which has received data and views from 63 countries so far, is expected to be completed by early next year. Experiences exchanged and views expressed in the workshop will be taken into account by the United Nations in the preparation of a manual on dealing with firearm regulation. The meeting was organized by the Vienna-based United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention, in cooperation with the Government of Brazil and the Brazilian office of the Latin American Institute for Crime Prevention and Treatment of Offenders. It brought together 52 participants from 17 countries. Most of the participants were experts in firearms-related fields of law enforcement, customs controls and national security. The meeting also included representatives of non-governmental organizations.

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