Disarmament in Review
The newly refurbished main armoury of Argentina’s Federal Police was unveiled jointly by the Ministry of Security of Argentina and the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs – through its Regional Disarmament Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and Caribbean (UNLIREC). Improvements to the Federal Police armoury were carried out based on technical recommendations made by UNLIREC in 2012 following a collaborative baseline assessment of eleven federal facilities and the development of a national action plan for their improved management.
The UNLIREC/Ministry of Security joint initiative aims to align stockpile facilities’ management practices with relevant international standards, such as the International Small Arms Control Standards (ISACS) and the International Ammunition Technical Guidelines (IATG). It also helps improve government officials’ capacities to effectively manage stockpiles and bolster the security infrastructure of facilities where weapons, ammunition and explosives are stored, to reduce the risk of theft, loss, diversion and accidents.
In addition to the inauguration of the main police stockpile facility, 6,710 surplus weapons were destroyed in a public-private partnership with a local metallurgical company. The destruction process was monitored and verified jointly by UNLIREC and the national firearms register (RENAR) in accordance with ISACS 05.50 Destruction: Weapons. These efforts supplement the Government´s national voluntary disarmament campaign, which has succeeded in removing over 145,000 small arms and more than one million rounds of ammunition from circulation.
The UNLIREC/Argentina partnership for the modernization of stockpile management is unique in that the Government of Argentina finances its technical assistance through a broader United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Framework for improving knowhow and capabilities for planning citizen security policies. It has set a successful model that other Member States in the region can replicate this bilateral funding modality in the years to come.
Since 2004, UNLIREC has provided stockpile management and destruction assistance to 17 Latin American and Caribbean Member States through assessment, capacity-building and the provision of equipment, resulting in the destruction of more than 550,000 surplus, obsolete and confiscated weapons and over 700,000 rounds of ammunition. The implementation of stockpile management and destruction measures is a crucial commitment taken on by States within the framework of the United Nations 2001 Programme of Action on Small Arms.
For more information on UNLIREC visit . Please direct all questions or inquiries to: Ms. Amanda Cowl, Political Affairs Officer at (cowl@unlirec.org).
