DCAF and the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) co-organised an executive seminar on good practices and international standards in the private security sector. Beside the Deputy Minister for Security (Ministerio de Gobernación), participants included representatives of public institutions, including the regulatory body for private security companies; more than 30 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.

The seminar initiates DCAF’s practical support to Guatemalan 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 Guatemala 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