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March 9, 2000

 

CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE MEETS ON HEMISPHERIC FIREARMS CONVENTION

The Consultative Committee set up under the Inter-American Convention against the Illegal Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Related Materials inaugurated its First Regular Meeting at the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, D.C., today, putting renewed focus on hemispheric cooperation to combat the problem of illegal guns.

"For the first time, the OAS has adopted a Convention that explicitly provides support for its provisions to be applied as well as for follow-up and promotion," declared OAS Secretary General César Gaviria, noting as well the Organization's pioneering work on illegal arms trafficking. He added that the convention has served as a model for similar provisions being formulated at other international organizations.

Parties to the Convention elected Mexico as secretariat pro tempore for the Committee on a motion by Brazil, supported by Nicaragua and El Salvador. Before moving into the agenda that also featured an Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) training program on firearms control for government officers, Mexico's Ambassador Claude Heller, stressed that "the primary objective of this meeting is to help promote ratification of this important vehicle for inter-American cooperation." The participants are also to decide on the date and venue for the Consultative Committee's second regular meeting.

Under the Convention, which entered into force recently, the terms of reference for the Consultative Committee include the facilitation of information exchange on domestic laws and administrative procedures in member states, and fostering cooperation among national liaison agencies to detect suspected illegal firearms export and import.

Among their major obligations, states party to the firearms convention must ensure that "manufactured, imported or confiscated firearms" carry markings whereby they can be identified and traced. The Convention was adopted in Washington, D.C., on November 14, 1997 and entered into force on July 1, 1998.

The Consultative Committee is made up of the 10 member states that have ratified the Convention so far (Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru). Other member states are represented at the two-day meeting, as are Permanent Observers to the OAS, international organizations such as the United Nations and Interpol and non-governmental organizations engaged in combatting illegal firearms trafficking and production.

 

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