The Americas remain one of the most violent regions in the world, with the highest rate of homicides. Almost 75% of them are committed with a firearm. The region is also one of the main destinations of firearms for illicit trafficking. As such, the illicit proliferation and trafficking of firearms and ammunition is a priority in the citizen security agenda of the region. Countries' commitment to addressing this challenge was translated in the adoption of the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (CIFTA). Ratified by 31 of the 34 OAS Member states in 1997, CIFTA is the first regional binding agreement of its kind and a fundamental tool in addressing the illicit trade of firearms and ammunition in the Americas.
However, despite the valuable efforts of national authorities, the countries cannot still fully implement CIFTA. To close this gap, the Department of Public Security of the OAS has established the Program of Assistance on Control of Arms and Munition (PACAM) to strengthen the capacity of the OAS Member States to prevent and reduce the illicit proliferation and trafficking of small arms and light weapons (SALW), and ammunition.
PACAM supports OAS Member States, at their request, through a multi-layered approach:
- Legislative support to improve firearms normative framework;
- Tailored, needs-driven, and sustainable technical assistance and capacity-building in different aspects of through-life management of firearms and ammunition;
- Promotion of preventive initiatives to strengthen community resilience against armed violence through OASIS methodology, and reduce unauthorized access to firearms.
Since its inception, PACAM promoted substantive changes in the security context, mitigating risks of diversion of firearms and ammunition to the illicit market, and reducing engagement of groups in situation of vulnerability with armed violence in several countries.
In its first phase, from 2007 to 2015, with funding from the United States, PACAM supported 25 Member States to improve their marking capacities through the donation of marking machines and the offer of training to national personnel. It has also supported the destruction of 60,000 firearms and over 1,700 tons of munition seized, expired, and/or in excess.
Since 2019, with funding from the European Union, PACAM has expanded the offer of support to OAS Member States, building on lessons learned from the previous phase. So far, 25 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have been assisted in different components.