2. Furthering Non-Proliferation through Capacity-building:
Linking National UNSCR 1540 Objectives to
Contemporary Security Challenges
Changing the Non-proliferation vernacular:
• While there is an academic appreciation of asymmetric
threats such as terrorism, biggest challenge is how to
make the issue of the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) less arcane and more relevant to
contemporary security realities.
• Security planners openly ask, how are asymmetric threats
relevant to Caribbean?
• Almost eight years after the adoption of UNSCR
1540, and with constant reminders such the London
bombings and other thwarted incidents in Europe and the
United States, the understanding of the scope of the
challenge is still largely an intellectual exercise
• In the past six years, two major regional assessments
were conducted looking at terrorism generally and the
possibility of a major catastrophic WMD-related event in
the Caribbean region; Notwithstanding the findings, very
little has been done on the operational and policy
fronts to address this challenge

3. Furthering Non-Proliferation through Capacity-building:
Linking National UNSCR 1540 Objectives to
Contemporary Security Challenges
Changing the Non-proliferation vernacular:
• Perception in the Caribbean of terrorism as a clear and
present danger is a narrowly held view and has limited
resonance
• The challenge is how to balance the discussion of non-
proliferation and arrive at parity in focusing traditional
security concerns of the illicit trade in small arms and
light weapons (SALW), illegal drugs /other
contraband, trafficking in persons while at the same
time giving prominence to the need to prevent the trade
in strategic goods and the control of dual issue
materials
• For the CARICOM 1540 Programme governments and
security planners in the Caribbean the conundrum
remains how get non-proliferation front and center but
not have the issue derogate from equally pressing
security and national development concerns
• In region where gun-related violence is among highest
globally any focus on proliferation is still often seen as an
unnecessary distraction from this key priority

4. Furthering Non-Proliferation through Capacity-building:
Linking National UNSCR 1540 Objectives to
Contemporary Security Challenges
Changing the Non-proliferation vernacular:
• The key is to adopt a non-proliferation vernacular that
can help change current threat perception; states will
not only take their responsibilities under UNSCR 1540
more seriously but will also have a clear impetus to foster
their own national culture of compliance
• Non-Proliferation is not a particularly appealing issue for
small states with minimal resources and even more
minimal bureaucracies
• The United Nations, member states and the international
community have a central role to play in changing the
non-proliferation vernacular, a process which has been
significantly advanced by the NGO community with
entities such as the Stimson Center and the Stanley
Foundation
• These challenges are not just in the hard security
domain, but also in having resources to comply with the
reporting process in general, given very small
bureaucracies

5. Furthering Non-Proliferation through Capacity-building:
Addressing capacity deficits along the non-proliferation spectrum
Achieving reporting and other requirements :
• Universalization in the non-proliferation domain is
largely dependent on UN member states’ ability to
engage both the implementation process
(legal, regulatory, operational) as well as shoulder
administrative requirements that are at the core of
these mandates
• Non-Proliferation is not a particularly appealing issue for
small states with minimal resources and even more
minimal bureaucracies
• The United Nations, member states and the international
community have a central role to play in changing the
non-proliferation vernacular, a process which has been
significantly advanced by the NGO community with
entities such as the Stimson Center and the Stanley
Foundation
• These challenges are not just in the hard security
domain, but also obtain in having resources to comply
with the reporting process in general, given the very
small size of these bureaucracies

6. Furthering Non-Proliferation through Capacity-building:
Addressing capacity deficits along the non-proliferation spectrum
Achieving reporting and other requirements :
• General principle obtains with respect to reporting in
relation to non-proliferation mandates: Member states
that have a reporting deficit for one resolution (e.g.
USNCR 1540) tend to be non-compliant for all
• For small states in the Caribbean, any delivery of capacity
assistance/support in the strategic domain is never
localized to one issue such as 1540 as is the case with
states with greater capacity and resources
• While scope and focus of CARICOM’s non-proliferation
effort is 1540-focused addressing capacity deficits
invariably means assisting member states in meeting
obligations under other SCRs similarly focused on
terrorism and/or non-proliferation such as SCRs 1267 and
1373
• In the instance of 1373, this also means working with
member states to meet corollary reporting requirements
under SCRs 1624 and 1718 respectively which demand
that member states consistently update existing national
lists

7. Furthering Non-Proliferation through Capacity-building:
Addressing capacity deficits along the non-proliferation spectrum
Achieving reporting and other requirements:
• General principle obtains with respect to reporting in
relation to non-proliferation mandates: Member states
that have a reporting deficit for one resolution (e.g.
USNCR 1540) tend to be non-compliant for all
• For small states in the Caribbean, any delivery of capacity
assistance/support in the strategic domain is never
localized to one issue such as 1540
• While scope and focus of CARICOM’s non-proliferation
effort is 1540-focused addressing capacity deficits
invariably means assisting member states in meeting
obligations under other SCRs similarly focused on
terrorism and/or non-proliferation such as SCRs 1267 and
1373
• In the instance of 1373, this also means working with
member states to meet corollary reporting requirements
under SCRs 1624 and 1718 respectively which demand
that member states consistently update existing national
lists. Republic of Guyana is the only CARICOM state to
have provided any submission relating to 1540 and this
was accomplished in the context of the 1540 programme

8. Facilitating the implementation of UNSCR 1540
Confronting administrative and structural challenges
Fashioning Innovative approaches to facilitate
implementation that simultaneously target other
traditional threats
• Reality is that 15 individual states are implementing UNSCR
1540, with all the attendant political, resource and structural
challenges
• In awareness-building stage, utilization of regional security
institutions is fundamental: CONSLE, COFCOR, MSRMCS
• Instituting a ‘Virtuous Cycle’ to encourage compliance
• Engagement on non-proliferation must be predicated
on existing security realities (trade in illegal narcotics
and small arms in the case of the Caribbean) to ensure
that the issue is viewed as important and will resonate
with policymakers as well as enforcement personnel
• Integrate small developing states into adopting non-
proliferation aims through the institution of capacity-
building programs (July 2010 Commodity Identification
Training (CIT) workshop, OPCW legislative initiative in May
2011, and the Special Workshop on Legal and Regulatory
Aspects of UNSCR 1540 in January 2012)

9. Facilitating the implementation of UNSCR 1540
Confronting administrative and structural challenges
Fashioning Innovative approaches to facilitate implementation:
• Key approach is to use existing security concerns that
dove-tail with non-proliferation goals and can be
addressed through the 1540 implementation process
(CARICOM Programme initiative with the world Health
Organization (WHO) to build capacity in natural disaster
mitigation and to respond to public health/mass casualty
emergencies. Security protocols involved in these
processes are also components of any standard response
system to an attack involving chemical or biological agents
• CARICOM 154O programme is also working with several
member states, including Jamaica, where there has been
close cooperation, not only with policy entities but with
enforcement branches such as the Jamaica Constabulary
Force and also its military, the Jamaica Defence Force to
institute modules that focus specifically on existing non-
proliferation treaty obligations
• A similar initiative is underway, with the Caribbean Customs
Law Enforcement Council (CCLEC) which more broadly
focuses on strategic trade

10. Realizing non-proliferation through cooperation
Instituting legislative, regulatory and administrative controls
• Like other small developing countries, a key challenge
confronting CARICOM member states relates to the lack
of existing capacity – on the legal, regulatory and
administrative fronts – in adopting and enforcing
necessary measures aimed at preventing the proliferation
of WMD and instituting necessary controls related to
strategic trade commodities.
• In addressing this challenge, CARICOM has forged a
cooperative approach, facilitated by the United Nations
1540 Committee which seeks to develop a Reference
Legal Framework (RLF) that will assist states in the
region to institute controls that will target potential illicit
transfers and enable the eventual
interdiction, investigation and prosecution of these
activities.
• A regional ‘gap analysis,’ which will inform the
development of the RLF, is underway and is being
coordinated with the United Nations Office for Drugs and
Crime (UNODC), the Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and International Atomic
Energy Agency, VERTIC and the BWC-ISU among
others.

11. Realizing non-proliferation through cooperation
Instituting legislative, regulatory and administrative controls
• Given the region’s primary maritime environment and
geography, CARICOM members, as required by the
Resolution, are mandated to enact enabling legislation
that, while focusing on the harmonization of regional
export control arrangements, will also serve to:
(a) Control items that are transiting or being trans-
shipped through the Caribbean’s waters, airspace,
or territory, including free ports, and will center on
the transfers of dual-use items, technology in both
tangible as well as intangible forms, and other
related services
(b) Control foreign-origin items re-exported from
CARICOM member states
(c) Control items temporarily transferred to another
state – including commercial material and
equipment transfers to foreign-owned holdings
• Focus is also being placed on adopting licensing
procedures and practices that promote non-proliferation
and an emphasis will be placed on also ensuring that
applications processes for licenses covering strategic
goods entail rigorous end-user/end-use analysis.

12. Building Effective Non-proliferation capacity
Aiding detection, interdiction and prevention
• The use of databases and watch-lists for evaluating
parties involved in transfers will be a main focus. In
addition, a key area of emphasis will be to ensure that
technical experts, intelligence personnel, and policy
officials from all legally entitled government agencies
have the knowledge and opportunity to evaluate license
applications for proliferation concerns.
• A central component of the CARICOM-UNSCR 1540
Implementation Programme will also involve providing
training and resources necessary to detect, identify, and
prevent transfers that violate export control laws and
regulations, and will include:
(a) Training in effective risk analysis and in targeting
strategies to prevent the export, re-export, import,
transit or transshipment of strategic goods
(b) Training in the utilization of trade information and
intelligence to detect suspect transfers and to
minimize impediments to legitimate trade; and the
implementation of measures to account for, as well
as to secure and maintain, the appropriate physical
protection of strategic goods

13. Building Effective Non-proliferation capacity
Adopting multi-dimensional approaches to facilitate compliance
• At both the Hemispheric Workshop on UNSCR 1540
Implementation in Buenos Aires in May 2008 and the
OAS-CARICOM Workshop on Maritime Security and
Exports Controls Workshop in Support of UNSCR 1540
Implementation in Kingston, Jamaica in June
2009, CARICOM members stressed the need for the
development of a non-proliferation model that
addresses the root causes of proliferation rather than
simply treating its symptoms
• States also called for initiatives that would also bring to
bear the significant technical support availed by the
non-governmental community, as is represented by
the Henry L. Stimson Center, the Stanley Foundation
and other similar entities
• In this vein, the CARICOM implementation programme
seeks to build on traditional security assistance
approaches, by dually focusing on developmental
challenges which fundamentally impact both traditional
national security priorities as well as the ability of states to
address the phenomenon of the proliferation of WMD

14. O’Neil Hamilton
Regional Coordinator
CARICOM-UNSCR 1540 Implementation Programme
Caribbean Community Secretariat
246-241-4531 (Barbados)
202-329-4110 (US)