Fifth Regional Meeting of the Commissions for Small Arms and Light Weapons

The Fifth Regional Meeting of Commissions for Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) was held in Skopje on 3-4 November 2015, gathering representatives of SALW commissions from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Kosovo*, Montenegro, Moldova, Serbia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to exchange information and share knowledge in the area of SALW control.
 

“The effects of armed violence go well beyond the loss of life and physical injuries and pose a serious obstacle to the socio-economic development efforts. Therefore, the effective control of small arms and light weapons is not only a security issue, but one that influences the development planning and processes of the region”, Head of the Political Department of the Regional Cooperation Council Stefana Greavu said as she opened the meeting.   
 

Representatives of SALW Commissions from the region discussed updates to SALW Control strategies, concrete measures for armed violence prevention and reduction and how it relates to sustainable development, as well as how to tackle illicit possession of weapons. Delegates also addressed registration, record keeping and marking systems, as well as SALW collection and legalization campaigns.
 

SALW Commissions meetings are part of activities implemented under SEESAC’s EUSAC project, aimed at improving regional cooperation on awareness raising, information sharing and knowledge transfer through the facilitation of regional cooperation between national institutions dealing with arms control.
 

EUSAC:
 

SEESAC provides support to national and regional stakeholders in strengthening their capacities to control and reduce the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons and in this way contribute to stability, security and development in South East Europe (SEE).  European Union supports SEESAC’s disarmament and arms control activities in SEE through the Council Decision 2013/730/CFSP, from 9 December 2013.
 

EUSAC builds directly upon SEESAC’s decade-long SALW Control work, particularly achievements made through the previous EU funded SALW Control project, conducted during the 2010-2012 period under the Council Decision 2010/179/CFSP. Designed in close cooperation with national authorities, the project works on the following five interrelated streams of activities:
 

  • Increased security of stockpiles: through the renovation and security improvements to storages of arms and ammunition.
  • Stockpile reduction: through the destruction of surplus arms and ammunition held in storages.
  • Improved marking, tracing and registration of SALW: through the provision of support to the establishment or enhancement of existing weapons registration and record-keeping systems.
  • Improved regional cooperation on awareness raising, information sharing and knowledge transfer: through the facilitation of regional cooperation between national institutions tasked with arms control.
  • Implementation of collection and awareness raising campaigns.

 

* References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).

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