UN and Colombian officials set to destroy almost 14,000 firearms

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Colombian authorities are set to melt down nearly 14,000 firearms today in a special ceremony highlighting the danger of illegal arms proliferation and marking International Gun Destruction Day.

The molten metal will go towards the manufacture of school chairs and the construction of a monument in memory of the victims of violence and kidnapping in Colombia, the agency stated in a press release.

About 77 per cent of the firearms scheduled for destruction are illegal. Of those, 60 per cent were illicitly manufactured, 31 per cent are privately owned and 9 per cent belong to the armed forces.

Colombia has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. In 2005, 70 per cent of over 17,000 homicides registered were committed with firearms. Cities registering the highest numbers of legal firearms were also those showing the lowest homicide rates.

Organized by UNODC, the Colombian Ministry of Defence, the national armed forces and the “Vida Sagrada” programme, today’s ceremony has the support of the National Plant for Metal Work and Manufacture, SIDENAL.

UNODC recently published a report entitled Violence, Crime and Illegal Arms Trafficking in Colombia, which said the country needed to do more to crack down on arms trafficking. The report challenged the perception that Colombia was plagued by indiscriminate violence. Rather, the use of firearms was highly controlled and regulated by criminal gangs, rebels and the Government.

Since December 2005, UNODC has been the custodian of the Firearms Protocol supplementing the 2003 United Nations International Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.