The CoE participates in the knowledge community on firearms in Mexico

On October 30, the Center of Excellence for Statistical Information on Government, Crime, Victimization and Justice UNODC-INEGI (CoE) participated in the Academic Meeting on the Prevention of Armed Violence and Firearms-related Crimes organized by the Attorney General’s Office and the Autonomous University of Mexico with the support of the civil organization 24-0 and the Australian Embassy. The CoE presented in the session “Main Indicators on Armed Violence and Firearms-related Crimes” and analysed the operation of the arms market and the methodological challenges realated to indicator 16.4.2 Proportion of seized, found or surrendered arms whose illicit origin or context has been traced or established by a competent authority in line with international instruments of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The CoE also presented the Illicit Arms Flows Questionnaire (IAFQ), a new instrument developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Global Firearms Programme for the collection of information on firearms in UN Member States.

In its presentation, the CoE recognized the urgency of solving the problem of the illicit arms flows since the commission of violent crimes is linked to the presence of weapons in Mexico.

The meeting was attended by public officials, members of academia, civil society and the general public interested in building a new agenda on arms control, preventive disarmament and peace building at the community level.