Santo Domingo.– The government of the Dominican Republic ratified the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Related Materials (CIFTA) through the signature of a document by the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) José Miguel Insulza and the Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the OAS Ambassador Virgilio Alcántara.

Participants in the event also included the President of the OAS Permanent Council and Permanent Representative of Canada Graeme Clark, and the Permanent Representative of Guatemala and President of the Consultative Committee of CIFTA, Jorge Skinner-Klee. The event was held in the Secretary General’s office at the OAS Headquarters in Washington, DC.

Secretary General Insulza congratulated the Dominican government on ratifying a Convention of particular importance to the Americas. “Armed violence and insecurity affect generally all our societies, worsen our citizens’ quality of life, and makes them feel permanently threatened.”

“The Convention serves the purpose of combating and eliminating the illicit manufacturing and trafficking of firearms. It particularly stresses the needs for arms control; arms confiscation; regulating authorizations and licenses for export, import and transit; and strengthening controls at export points,” said Insulza, who emphasized especially the threat of small firearms.