Engaging Whole Community: The Role of Industry and Intergovernmental Organizations in Furthering Nonproliferation Goals and Implementing UNSCR 1540

As with most governments across the Global South, engagement on issues pertaining to the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has been recognized as the absolute responsibility and purview of member governments. Because governments of the subregion face monumental human-security and development challenges but have limited responsive capacity, nonproliferation might reasonably occupy a low priority for most states of the Caribbean Basin. Consequently, the extent to which national entities—whether in government, local industry, or civil society—have elevated nonproliferation as a national priority has largely depended on a government’s ability to frame the issue as being relevant to higher-order national-security and development challenges.

Internationally, the role of industry in proliferation prevention has become a subject of increased interest over the past few years. Yet the private sector’s engagement in this regard within the Caribbean has been negligible, even though its role will be critical to any preventive regime.

In this Stanley Center Policy Analysis Brief, O’Neil Hamilton, 1540 coordinator for CARICOM, examines the role that Caribbean industry can play in the prevention of proliferation.