In pursuit of their obligations for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution on preventing the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, 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.
Towards this goal, 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, stated a release from the CARICOM Secretariat at Turkeyen.
And the ongoing activities towards the implementation of UNSCR 1540 are not being done in isolation, but they are multi-dimensional and complementary to other initiatives against activities that pose a security threat to the region, particularly the trade in illicit drugs and small arms.
From its inception, member states 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.
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 at a meeting of officials preparatory to the 14th meeting of the Council on Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR), 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 stated.
Hamilton said 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 Heads of Government at the Eighteenth Intercessional Meeting in February 2007, enabled small independent states of CARICOM to pool law enforcement and military resources for the successful and secure execution of the Cricket World Cup in the region.
Hamilton said that two sets of Regional Threat Assessments in July 2006 and January 2007, which had been done in the run up to the Cricket World Cup, acquainted policymakers and regional security experts with the reality of the increasing and significant vulnerability of the region from external threats.
He added that those assessments underscored the capacity of terrorists to compromise the safety and security of small developing states like those of CARICOM.
As a result, efforts have intensified in boosting member states’ capacity in areas such as commodity identification to detect materials used in legitimate commercial activities that could also be used in the proliferation of WMD.
“No region is without risk in this regard. CARICOM has to be very vigilant and be equipped to address these vulnerabilities,” Hamilton said.
