Costa Rica bans arms, munitions manufacturing

Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias on Wednesday signed into law a ban on manufacturing arms, munitions and military equipment components throughout the territory, including the nation's duty-free industrial zones.

The law limits the number of weapons any individual can legally own and bans the sale of guns to minors. It also creates a cross-department committee to oversee the improvement of arms control in the nation.

The new law came in response to criticisms by opposition parties and non-governmental organizations that Costa Rica's duty-free areas could become a center for arms manufacturing, once the legislature ratified a free trade agreement with the United States,

Arias dismissed these criticisms as "unjust". "No rational mind could permit the idea that a government led by a Nobel Prize winner would be interested in boosting arms production," he declared.

Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his contribution to ending Central American civil wars.

In 1997, he launched a campaign to seek worldwide disarmament. In September, he told the United Nations General Assembly that destroying weapons is "the best way to bring poverty to an end", proposing an arms control treaty for all countries in the world.