Measuring how many firearms and how they are used is critical to preventing their violent use

On October 4th, the Centre of Excellence in Statistical Information on Government, Crime, Victimization and Justice (CoE) participated in the Twenty-First Regular Meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials (CIFTA), organized by the Organization of American States (OAS).

Salomé Flores, Coordinator of the Centre, presented the Module on Firearms Possession, an innovative tool developed within the framework of the working group of the Latin American and Caribbean Crime Victimization Survey Initiative (LACSI). This module allows countries in the region to collect information such as the prevalence of firearms in a territory, the level of acceptance of behaviours related to the use of firearms, and the feeling of security, among other indicators.

During the presentation, the experiences of implementation of this Module in two countries of the region, Jamaica and Saint Lucia, were presented. The CoE also reminded the other countries in the region of its willingness to offer technical assistance in case of interest in implementing this tool.

In case countries would like to adopt this Module, please write to: unodc-mexico.cde.estadistica@un.org