United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs Regional Centre Assists Maldives with Building Capacity in Maritime Conventional Arms Control

NEW YORK, 5 August (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific commenced a project on strengthening the national capacity of Maldives to implement the United Nations Programme of Action on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons and the Arms Trade Treaty.  The project, developed at the request of and in cooperation with the Government of Maldives, will be implemented between August and September 2015.

The purpose of the project is to enhance the maritime security of Maldives by providing its Government with technical and legal assistance to facilitate the implementation of the Programme of Action and support its ability to move towards accession to the Arms Trade Treaty.  Both instruments provide for mutually complementing and reinforcing global mechanisms aimed at countering the illegal trade and illicit trafficking of conventional arms, particularly small arms and light weapons.

The project consists of three stages.  From 3 to 6 August, international experts and a Regional Centre representative will hold the initial consultation visit to Malé, Maldives, to meet with experts and representatives from ministries and agencies involved in conventional arms control.  They will conduct an assessment and identify the Government’s legal and technical assistance needs.

On that basis, the international experts will subsequently carry out a review and prepare recommendations for developing comprehensive laws and regulations and technical procedures for physical security, stockpile management and maritime border control aimed at ensuring the compliance of national regulations and procedures related to international arms transfers with international standards.  At a summary workshop in Maldives, planned for late September 2015, the experts will present their review outcomes and recommendations and discuss them with Government experts and officials.

This project is implemented with financial support from the United Nations Trust Facility Supporting Cooperation on Arms Regulation.

For further information, contact Yuriy Kryvonos, Interim Director, United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament, by e-mail:  info@unrcpd.org.