Between 5 to 8 July 2021, UNODC Global Firearms Programme organised an online workshop to strengthen national capacities in Guatemala to investigate and prosecute firearms trafficking and related criminal offences.
The objective of the training was to strengthen the technical and operational capacities of criminal justice officers to conduct effective investigations and prosecution of cases of illicit firearms trafficking and related crimes, to ensure accountability for these crimes. The online training gathered 29 national officers from national police, prosecution service, customs, Directorate General for Control of Arms and Ammunition (DIGECAM) as well as the National Institute of Forensics (INACIF).
The online training was facilitated jointly by staff from the Global Firearms Programme and national experts. It provided participants with a more in-depth knowledge about the legal framework on firearms at international, regional and national level; it shared investigation techniques; and it enhanced capacities to identify and trace firearms, to facilitate international judicial and law enforcement cooperation. The training also included a practical exercise, where participants had the chance to apply what they had learned in a fictional case of firearms trafficking. The interactive character of the training also provided the platform for criminal justice practitioners from different Guatemalan institutions to meet, interact and better understand the work of each other, which ultimately contributed to promote inter-agency cooperation at national level.
Participants have demonstrated their appreciation for the training, and they commented that it had not only strengthened their investigation and prosecution capacities, but also to improve their coordination to conduct more effective investigations and prosecutions.
The activity was organised thanks to the financial support of the European Union, in the framework of the trans-regional technical cooperation project for Africa and Latin America financed through EU-DEVCO.
