The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region has the highest homicide rate in the world with more than a third of global homicides (36 percent) taking place in LAC countries. In fact, 42 of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world, outside of conflict zones, are located in this region. One of the root causes is the diversion of arms and ammunition to the illicit trade, which facilitate crime and armed violence and undermine regional peace and security.
Control Arms, with funding support of the United Nations Trust Facility Supporting Cooperation on Arms Regulation (UNSCAR), published a new report exploring measures that states in Latin America can take to prevent the diversion of arms and tame this “devil within.”
There is strong evidence that suggests that ‘ineffective national stockpile management, theft, corruption and other undetermined losses from national stockpiles enable many of these weapons to end up on the black market’. This report considers aspects of diversion specific to Latin America and makes concrete recommendations to policymakers and advocates on how to use the ATT framework to assess and mitigate the risks of arms being diverted.
Advocating for international and specifically regional cooperation, the report also encourages the rigorous implementation of the ATT in harmony with other relevant international and regional instruments including the UN Program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (UNPoA), the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition (Firearms Protocol), and the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of And Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other related Materials (CIFTA).
Find the full report here: https://controlarms.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ATTDiversion-Paper-FINAL.pdf
