The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

AS the authorities continue to fight crime, the government yesterday signed a treaty that is expected to better monitor the trade of firearms and ammunition brought to the Bahamas from other countries.

Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell told The Tribune that the signing of the Small Arms Trade Treaty was intended to assist in getting a handle on the “epidemic of violence”which has already seen 51 lives taken in the country.

Mr Mitchell signed on behalf of the Bahamas at the United Nations, New York, at around 10 am on Monday.

“There are 8 million guns and 12 million ammunition produced every year world wide,” Mr Mitchell said, “This treaty is designed to make sure that each country keeps track of who is issuing arms, manufacturing them, who is buying or trading them and where they are going.

“We certainly hope this will control the number of illicit arms that end up on the streets of New Providence and the rest of the country because we are suffering from an epidemic of violence.

“As we were the second ones to sign it, I will move for it to be ratified almost immediately.

“With that I will also say that the United States accepts that it has an obligation to this as most of the weapons on our streets originate from there.”

This treaty is the first of its kind to regulate the transfer of weapons across borders.

The agreement is one which the Bahamas and other Caricom countries have lobbied and fought to get as an initial step to regulate the flow of weapons from manufacturing states.

The Council for Foreign and Community Relations of Caricom (COFCOR) headed by Trinidad’s Foreign Minister Winston Dookeran, according to a Foreign Affairs press statement, asked that as many Caricom Foreign Ministers as possible attend the ceremony on this first day as a signal of the resolve of Caricom countries to stamp out the use of illegal weapons.