LATIN AMERICAN, CARIBBEAN STATES MEET TODAY TO ASSESS IMPACT

OF UN ACTION PROGRAMME ON SMALL ARMS, LIGHT WEAPONS

NEW YORK, 1 July (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- Over 40 representatives of Member States from the Latin America and Caribbean region and the donor community will meet one week before the First Biennial Meeting of States on Small Arms and Light Weapons, at a briefing today on “The Implementation of the UN Programme of Action:  Latin American and Caribbean Actions”.

Organized by the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-LiREC) of the Department for Disarmament Affairs, the event, taking place at United Nations Headquarters, will provide a platform for governments, non-governmental organizations, international organizations and the donor community to assess the implementation of the Programme of Action in the region in an effort to eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects.

The briefing will also assess the United Nations Regional Centre’s assistance to countries in implementing the 1997 Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (CIFTA) and the 1997 Model Regulations for the Control of the International Movement of Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition (Model Regulations) of the Organization of American States.

This meeting is part of the annual work of the Centre’s Regional Clearing-house Programme on Firearms, Ammunition and Explosives.  The Centre also serves as a platform for identifying synergies and pooling human, material and financial resources in the region, so as to avoid duplication of efforts concerning peace, disarmament and development.

Invited countries invited include:  Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.

For more information, please contact:  Daiana Belinda Cipollone, e-mail: cipollone@unlirec.org, tel: (+511) 422-2711.

* *** *