Annexure I

The Andean Plan to prevent, combat and eradicate illicit trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its aspects

Definitions

For purposes of the implementation of this Plan, the following definitions shall apply:

Private actors: private enterprises and/or institutions, as well as natural persons, that manufacture, import, export, transfer, sell, broker, transport, hold, conceal, usurp, carry or require the use of small arms and light weapons for their normal activities.
Public actors: public institutions involved in designing or implementing the policies, strategies or action connected with this Plan, including, inter alia, the armed forces, police, national security agencies, ministries of foreign affairs, defence, the interior or government, and justice, the judiciary, and customs and immigration officials.
Small arms and light weapons: small arms are those that are intended for personal use, while light weapons are used by several people organized as a crew. The small arms category includes: revolvers and automatic and semi-automatic pistols, shotguns, rifles and carbines, submachine guns, assault rifles, and light machine-guns, as well as informally manufactured arms of the same kind. The light weapons category includes: heavy machine-guns, hand-driven and mounted rifle-driven grenade launchers, hand-held antiaircraft guns, hand-held antitank guns, recoilless guns, hand-held antitank rocket and missile launcher systems, hand-held antiaircraft missile launcher systems and mortars with a caliber of less than 100 millimetres, as well as informally manufactured weapons of the same kind. Ammunition and explosives are part of the small arms and light weapons that are used in fighting and include: cartridges (bullets) for small arms, projectiles and missiles for light weapons, hand-driven antipersonnel and antitank grenades, land mines, explosives and movable containers holding antiaircraft and antitank missiles or projectiles for a single action.
Institutions responsible for ensuring compliance with and full implementation of the laws: national agencies competent in the control, surveillance and application of Andean Community and domestic legislation associated with this Plan, including, inter alia, the ministries of foreign affairs, defence, the interior or government and justice, the public ministry, the judiciary, and the armed forces and police, and customs and immigration officials, according to their spheres of competence.
National Coordinating Committee -National Focal Point-: the mechanism that is responsible for boosting the implementation of this Plan in each Member Country. It may have a Chair and a Technical Secretariat to facilitate the accomplishment of its aims and may be made up of representatives of the following bodies, inter alia: the ministries of foreign affairs, defence, the interior or government, and justice, the judiciary, the armed forces, the police, customs and immigration officials and civil society.
Security: from the Andean perspective, security is understood to be the situation in which the state and society are protected against threats or risks that are capable of affecting the overall development and well-being of their citizens, as well as the full exercise of their rights and freedoms within an unhampered democratic environment. In this sense, security is multidimensional and comprehensive in nature, encompassing across-the-board political, economic, social and cultural matters, and is reflected in the policies that are implemented in spheres as diverse as, inter alia, the bolstering of democratic institutions and the state of law, defence, health, the environment, the economy, economic development and the prevention of natural disasters.
Civil society: the collective social entity within which citizens interrelate among themselves and with the state. From this perspective, it comprises a large array of organizations, including, inter alia, social movements, professional or voluntary associations, grass-roots organizations, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, cooperatives, academic and philanthropic institutions, local communities, gender-based and youth organizations, as well as religious organizations. In some cases, independent communications media and the informal sector are also considered a part of civil society. Among the roles assigned to civil society are participating in the Andean Community decision-making process and expediting the rendering of accounts by state bodies, in an effort to achieve effective governance. For purposes of this instrument, civil society includes a broad range of organizations that have a mandate to contribute to training, theoretical and applied research, the facilitating of public policy, social and development assistance, and the monitoring and evaluation of security issues.

Objectives:

To draw up, implement and support a comprehensive strategy to prevent, combat and eradicate illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects, which should take into account the links between the illicit trade in and proliferation of those arms and weapons and security, terrorism, corruption and the worldwide drug problem, as well as the long-term objective of achieving peace, development and stability in the Sub region;
To strengthen the capacity of Member Countries to implement measures against the illicit manufacture, import, export, transfer, sale, brokerage, transport, possession, concealment, usurpation, carrying and use of small arms and light weapons and to identify, confiscate and, when appropriate, destroy these types of weapons and arms;
To promote a culture of peace by carrying out education and public awareness programs on the problems of the proliferation and movement of and illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, involving all sectors of society;
To institutionalise national and sub regional programs, as well as the corresponding mechanisms for action, in order to prevent, control and eradicate illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects; and,
To implement this Plan in a context of full respect for human rights and international humanitarian law.

Principles:

In order to accomplish the objectives of this Plan, the following principles shall be borne in mind:

Comprehensiveness: The Plan is comprehensive because it encompasses all aspects relating to the problem of the proliferation of and illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.
Shared Responsibility: The Plan rests on the shared responsibility of all actors connected with this problem and the joint search for solutions in the sub regional, regional, hemispheric and world spheres.
Respect for international law: The Plan fully respects the principles and rules of international law.
Respect for the domestic jurisdiction of the States: The Plan fully respects territorial sovereignty and integrity, as well as the principle of non-intervention in domestic affairs.
Solidarity: The Plan is implemented through the cooperation and solidarity of the nations.
Complementariness: The Plan contributes to the execution of domestic policies on the subject and the Common Foreign Policy, in order to deepen the process of Andean integration.

Mechanisms:

The Andean Council of Foreign Ministers is responsible for defining, coordinating and following up on the Andean Community Security Policy and, within this context, the Andean Plan to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects. The Andean Council of Foreign Ministers shall, accordingly, meet for this purpose with its counterparts from the ministries of defence, whenever it considers this advisable.
As established in the "Lima Commitment," the High-Level Group on Security and Confidence-Building shall be the executor of Andean Community Security Policy and, in that context, of this Plan.
An Operating Committee shall be created to coordinate, harmonize and carry out efforts to prevent, combat and eradicate illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects. Member Countries shall appoint three representatives to that Committee.

The Committee shall set up the specialized working groups it considers advisable. These working groups shall be comprised of competent authorities on the subject from two or more Member Countries. Countries that are not participants may request their incorporation at any time.
The General Secretariat of the Andean Community, particularly the responsible unit, shall act as the Technical Secretariat for this Plan.

Modes of action:

To address comprehensively the problem of the illicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons in all its aspects.
To exchange information and cooperate on all matters relating to illicit small arms and light weapons in all their aspects.
To promote the investigation, preparation and collection of information and statistics in the sub region, as well as dialogue and cooperation between the governments and civil society.
To expedite the development of a concrete and integrated Coordinated Agenda of Action on security in the Andean sub region.
To exchange experiences and organize courses to enhance the capabilities of officials in the Andean Community Member Countries.
To advance public awareness campaigns on the dangers and negative effects of the indiscriminate use of and illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.

Guidelines for Action:

A. In the Domestic Sphere:

Pursuant to the Coordinated Agenda of Action and its Operational Plan, attached, at the domestic level, the Member Countries shall, based on their national legislation and on administrative and operational provisions, regulations and procedures, control the illegal manufacture, import, export, transfer, sale, brokering, transport, possession, concealment, usurpation, carrying and use of small arms and light weapons and shall take the following measures, inter alia, that are within their possibilities:

Strengthen or establish mechanisms for national coordination with the corresponding institutional infrastructure that will be responsible for guiding policy, research and monitoring all aspects of the proliferation, control of and illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.
Enhance the capacity of the institutions and officials who are responsible for preventing, combating and eradicating the illicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons and improve their equipment and resources in order to obtain concrete results in the medium and long terms.
Recommend the adoption, as promptly as possible and whenever appropriate, of the legislative and other measures that are needed to classify as a criminal offense under national law the illicit manufacture, import, export, transfer, sale, brokerage, transport, possession, concealment, usurpation, carrying and use of small arms and light weapons.
Prepare and implement, as appropriate, domestic programs for:
1. The responsible handling of legal small arms and light weapons;
2. The voluntary surrender of illicit small arms and light weapons;
3. The identification and destruction by competent national officials of illicit small arms and light weapons and of the surplus inventory of arms and weapons that are obsolete or have been confiscated and are being held by the State, unless they have another officially authorized use, provided that these arms and/or weapons have been duly marked and registered;
4. The creation of citizen consciousness of the proliferation of and illicit trade in small arms and light weapons;
5. The adoption of appropriate national rules or regulations for improving and reinforcing laws that regulate the legal possession by civilians of firearms, ammunition, explosives and other related materials;
6. The transparent control of transfers of small arms and light weapons by producers, sellers, brokers and other agents, together with their embarkation and transit;
7. The active involvement of civil society in formulating and implementing a national program of action to address the problem in a comprehensive and sustainable way; and
8. The consciousness-raising, education and training of public and private actors connected with the implementation of the necessary measures to prevent, combat and eradicate illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects.
Promote the signing and entry into effect of binding bilateral or multilateral agreements with neighbouring or third countries or accession to such agreements, in order to establish a common system of effective control, including the registration and confiscation of illicit small arms and light weapons in border regions.
Design and implement proactive policies and measures to create the necessary political, economic, social and cultural conditions for reducing the demand for and illicit use of small arms and light weapons by individuals, groups of individuals or communities.

B. In the Sub regional Andean Sphere:

Create an Operating Committee that will be responsible for coordinating and harmonizing efforts to prevent, combat and eradicate illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects.
Set up an information exchange mechanism to harmonize the current training standards and domestic legislation on the subject of competent authorities in the Member Countries. International organizations specialized in the subject could provide technical assistance for that mechanism.
Promote the coding and harmonizing of legislations that regulate illicit manufacture, import, export, transfer, sale, brokerage, transport, possession, carrying and use of small arms and light weapons, in keeping with each Member Country's national Constitution. The common minimum standards defined by the Member Countries should include, but not be limited to, the application of markings on arms and weapons manufactured in the sub region, their registration and the control of imports, exports and legal trade of those items.
Enhance sub regional and hemispheric cooperation among competent national authorities who are responsible for ensuring compliance with and the full implementation of all laws connected with small arms and light weapons in all their aspects. Those efforts should include, but not be limited to, training and the exchange of information to support common and coordinated efforts to control and reduce illicit cross-border trade in small arms and light weapons, and the signing of agreements for those purposes.
Make certain that illegal manufacturers, sellers, brokers of and traffickers in small arms and light weapons, as well as those who transfer these types of armaments to individuals or groups operating outside the law in violation of domestic, sub regional or hemispheric regulations on the matter, are duly sanctioned.
Commit themselves to an ongoing dialogue with civil society in the Andean Community Member Countries encompassing the most diverse actors and agents, both public and private, that would result in cooperative efforts to help prevent, combat and eradicate illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects.
Seek to ensure that all programs to prevent, combat and eradicate illicit trade in small arms and light weapons be complemented by wide-ranging development programs so as to reduce local demand for these arms and weapons.

C. In the International Sphere:

To coordinate, within the context of Andean Common Foreign Policy, joint positions for the various international forums concerned with the subject and boost strategies to universalise cooperation mechanisms on the matter; and,
Present and disseminate this Andean Plan, together with its accomplishments and advances, at the Biennial Meetings of States on the Implementation of the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its aspects.

Implementation:

For purposes of the execution of this Plan, the Member Countries agree also to implement the Coordinated Agenda of Action and the Operational Plan that are attached hereto.

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