Santo Domingo - Dominican Republic. UNODC, through its Global Firearms Programme (GFP), in close cooperation with the Government of the Dominican Republic, the Ministry of Interior, Police and the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Vienna, organized a training on the detection of illicit firearms trafficking in Santo Domingo from 18 to 20 of April 2023, aimed at strengthening capacities of practitioners to detect illicitly transferred firearms, their parts and components and ammunition through postal and fast parcels, as well as at land and maritime borders. In addition, the course sought to analyse with the participants the new trends in illicit arms trafficking and provide them with tools and methods to improve their risk and threat assessment and management capacity.
The activity included presentations by international and national expert speakers, practical exercises and interactive debates and exchanges of experiences between the participants and national authorities. Trainees received lectures of experts from UNODC, as well as Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), United States Agency for Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) and INTERPOL. National experts from the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defence and Customs also delivered presentations. During the practical exercises, they put into practice what they learned, and get familiarised with the different parts and components of firearms and ammunition.
The course was addressed to 33 participants (9 women), from the following national institutions: Ministry of Defence, Customs, Prosecution Service, Dominican Port Authority, Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation, National Directorate of Investigations, National Directorate of Drug Control, National Drug Council, National Statistics Office, Ministry of Interior and Police and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The activity was highly interactive, and participants actively contributed to the discussions and shared experiences among themselves, which enriched the course. Feedback from the participants was very positive and they highlighted how useful it would be for the effective implementation of their functions.
The three-days-training was officially closed with a high-level ceremony that was honoured with a keynote speech of Honourable Jesus Vasquez Martinez, Minister of Interior and Police, who recognised the importance of reducing the circulation of illicit arms to contribute to decrease violence and other related crimes in the country, and make neighbourhoods safer. In the ceremony also participated Anibal Amparo García, Vice-minister of Control and Regulation of Firearms and Ammunition; Jesús Feliz Jiménez, Vice-minister of Security of the Interior; Sterling Pérez Maldonado, director of Registration and Control of Carrying and Possession of Weapons; and Daniel Mateo Roa, director of the Arms and Ammunition Marketing Control.
The exchange of experiences among national institutions and international partners is part of inter-institutional and international cooperation, in line with the Caribbean Firearms Roadmap and Dominican Republic’s National Comprehensive Citizen Security Strategy.
The activity was organised thanks to the generous support of Germany, in the framework of the Global Firearms Programme’s project “Support to the implementation of the crime prevention and criminal justice component of the Caribbean Roadmap to counter illicit firearms trafficking and misuse across the Caribbean in a sustainable manner by 2030”.