DCAF and the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) co-organized an executive seminar on good practices and international standards in the private security sector. Participants included the Minister of Public Security, representatives of public institutions, from the regulatory body for private security companies; private security companies and security units within national banks; the judiciary and judicial police; companies that are clients of private security companies; and civil society. The seminar provided practical recommendations on how to strengthen national regulation of private security companies based on international norms and good practices, as well as on how to strengthen the stockpile management of private security companies. Additionally, key findings of a DCAF-UNLIREC baseline study on private security companies in Latin America and the Caribbean were presented.

The seminar initiated DCAF’s practical support to Costa Rican stakeholders in the field of private security governance. It was thus accompanied by a series of planning meetings to define the coming advisory processes. DCAF’s work in Costa Rica is part of a multi-year DCAF-UNLIREC project to strengthen oversight and building capacities for small arms control and non-proliferation in the private security sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.