Following two previous regional workshops, which were held in Europe (in April 2022) and the Sahel/Maghreb (in February 2023), the regional workshop for the Caribbean on the Technical Guidelines for Member States to facilitate the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2370 (2017) and the relevant international standards and good practices on preventing terrorist from acquiring weapons held virtually from 7 – 9 March 2023, is the last in a series of events organized by CTED, UNCCT, and UNIDIR to promote the Technical Guidelines for Member States to Facilitate the Implementation of Security Council Resolution 2370 (2017) and the Related International Standards and Good Practices on Preventing Terrorists from Acquiring Weapons, to discuss the development of practices to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons, and identify opportunities for strengthening relevant measures at the national and regional levels. The workshop also aimed to provide a foundation for further amending, revising, and updating the Technical Guidelines, which is intended as a living, working reference document.
On 18 March 2022, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT/UNCCT), and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) launched the Technical Guidelines, which had been developed within the framework of a project of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact Working Group on Border Management and Law Enforcement relating to Counter-Terrorism.
During the virtual regional workshop, CTED presented the international framework for the effective implementation of resolution 2370 (2017) and other Security Council resolutions on counter-terrorism, emphasizing that, in building upon Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), resolution 2370 (2017) established a comprehensive set of provisions and approaches for eliminating the supply of weapons – including small arms and light weapons (SALW), unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and their components, and improvised explosive device (IED) components – and strengthened CTED’s mandate to address this issue through its assessments of, and dialogue with, Member States. Moreover, the 2018 Addendum to the guiding principles on stemming the flow of foreign terrorist fighters (S/2018/1177) included a guiding principle on preventing and combating the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons.
The Technical Guidelines focus on measures for preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons, with a specific focus on SALW, IEDS, and UAS, highlighting the existing instruments and protocols aimed at preventing the supply of, and access to, weapons and at preventing terrorists from acquiring SALW, UAS and their components, and IED components.
The acquisition of weapons is central to the very modus operandi of terrorism. It is critical to strengthen the international community’s capacity to prevent and combat this threat. The increasing diversion of SALW to terrorists and the increasing use of IEDs and UAS by terrorist are particularly concerning trends and require greater attention in the collective fight against terrorism.
In order to address this issue in a comprehensive manner, CTED continues to facilitate the implementation of resolution 2370 (2017) by outlining concrete measures to be taken by Member States. The Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact Working Group on Border Management and Law Enforcement Relating to Counter-Terrorism, chaired by CTED, developed the Technical Guidelines for that purpose and will organize further activities under this joint project in order to facilitate implementation of this resolution and related international standards.
CTED, together with its project partners, will also continue to identify good practices in this area through its dialogue with Member States. In the context of the joint project, the Caribbean workshop is the final regional workshop to be held. The next joint project for East Africa region will be launch in mid-2023.