UNREC, Côte d’Ivoire to Host Training Initiative on Combating

Illicit Arms Trafficking, Bolstering Stockpile Management

 

NEW YORK, 28 February (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — A six-day initiative will be held from 3 March with a view to bolstering security and peacebuilding in Côte d’Ivoire and improving the management of stockpiles of small arms and light weapons as well as ammunition, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) announced today.

UNREC and the Ivorian National Commission for the Fight against the Proliferation and Illicit Traffic of Small Arms and Light Weapons are organizing a one-day workshop in Abidjan on a manual of procedures that would meet international arms control standards.  A training of trainers course will then be held in Grand Bassam from 4-8 March for more than 25 members of the National Police, Gendarmerie, Republican Forces as well as customs, water and forestry offices.

The initiative was the latest effort in a programme that the Ivorian National Commission and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) established after the November 2010 elections with the aim of supporting the fight against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons and enhancing community security.

To address that challenge, the National Commission developed the manual of procedures and training tools on physical security and stockpile management in accordance with the International Small Arms Control Standards and International Ammunition Technical Guidelines, with support from UNREC and funding from the Government of Japan through UNDP.  The manual served as a working document for the adoption of national stockpile management standards for small arms and light weapons and ammunition, and the training tools would be published for use by defence and security forces.

Previous efforts include a 2012-2013 project funded by the Government of Australia, consisting of a training course for security and defence forces on marking and tracing small arms and light weapons, and on international and regional arms control instruments.  The project also included the evaluation and rehabilitation of four Gendarmerie storage sites and a study on possession of small arms and light weapons by private security companies.

For information, contact UNREC, tel.: (228) 22 53 50 00; e-mail: mail@unrec.org; or web: www.unrec.org.

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For information media • not an official record