Caricom tackles weapons of mass destruction

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) - Caricom has developed a strategic regional approach for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (UNSCR 1540), that has been recognised as a model for preventing the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) both within the hemisphere and beyond.

UNSCR 1540, which was adopted in April 2004, mandates all member states under Chapter V11 of the United Nations Charter to, among other things, prohibit support to non-State actors seeking to acquire materials and technology that could be used in the production of WMD.

It also calls on those states to adopt and enforce effective laws prohibiting the proliferation of such items to non-State actors and control the provision of funds and services that contribute to their increase.

In pursuit of their obligations under the UNSCR 1540, Caricom member states are required to implement effective border controls and comprehensive national export controls, develop appropriate control lists and incorporate these prohibitions on the trade in strategic goods into domestic laws.

The Caricom Secretariat said that from its inception, regional countries have been exploring ways to effectively comply with the UNSCR 1540, “but they have been impeded by capacity and resource challenges on the legal, regulatory and administrative fronts.

"As a mean of addressing those challenges, the Caricom Caucus of Ambassadors at the UN recommended, in June 2008, that the region undertake the implementation of the Resolution collectively."

It said that since then, a coordinated cooperative approach has been facilitated by the Caricom UNSCR 1540 Implementation Initiative Committee, headed by Regional Coordinator, O'Neil Hamilton.

In a presentation ahead of the 14th Meeting of the Council on Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR), in St Kitts today, Hamilton said that this approach involving Caricom member states moving together to implement non-proliferation of WMD was a "new and novel" initiative.

“Caricom has provided a model for the international community,” he said, adding that in the search for ways of addressing the capacity and resource challenges member states faced, the Committee considered the Regional Security Plan that had been formulated for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

The Regional Security Plan, which was adopted by Caricom leaders in 2007, enabled small independent Caricom countries to pool law enforcement and military resources for the successful and secure execution of the Cricket World Cup in the region.

"No region is without risk in this regard. Caricom has to be very vigilant and be equipped to address these vulnerabilities," Hamilton said, adding that Caricom was also forging ahead with the development of a Reference Legal Framework (RLF) to assist member states in instituting controls that will also target potential illicit transfers and enable eventual interdiction, investigation and prosecution.