Croatia: Collection and Registration of Weapons
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SEESAC, in collaboration with UNDP Croatia, currently supports the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Croatia’s campaign entitled "Less Arms, Less Tragedies," which encourages residents to voluntarily surrender any weapons they might have in their homes, without fearing legal consequences. The Ministry of Interior has set up information and collection stands and organized various awareness raising events with the aim of educating the Croatian public about the dangers of weapons and ways of turning them in anonymously and without sanctions.
During 2010, the campaign took place in ten Croatia towns: Makarska, Delnice, Koprivnica, Križevci, Pula, Kutina, Zagreb, Osijek, Karlovačka county, and Pazin. During this time, the police reportedly collected 149 automatic and 5,420 explosive illegal weapons, 274 legal weapons, 138,898 bullets and 106 kg of explosives.
In 2011, the campaign covered Virovitica, Varaždin, Daruvar, Zadar, Gospić, Krapina and Požeška counties. To help the collection efforts, in 2011 SEESAC also secured €70,000 worth of safety equipment for the Croatian police bomb squad, including 21 bulletproof vests, 21 protective helmets, six ballistic containers and six anti-explosive kits.
Ongoing since 2007, "Less Arms – Less Tragedies" campaign is a nationwide effort to prevent firearm-related tragedies by encouraging citizens to surrender illegal weapons to the police. Since its beginning, the collection campaign resulted in voluntary removal of over 58,818 small arms and explosive devices, almost two million rounds of ammunition and nearly 2 tons of explosives from civilian homes – making the lives of Croatian citizens that much safer.
The awareness-raising actions were coordinated by committees consisting of specialists from both the Ministries of Interior and UNDP/SEESAC as well as PR experts where necessary, in order to properly disseminate details about the legalization and voluntary surrender of illegal firearms. The project particularly targeted age-groups in possession of illegal weapons and all those who are likely to intend to acquire weapons. The campaigns mainly relied on local dissemination channels, which are best able to make an impact on a local level. Local information dissemination was reinforced at the national level through reporting, interviews and documentaries. Information on the campaigns was provided through electronic and written media. The campaign messages were positive and showed implementation in practice.
The ongoing SALW collection project in Croatia is funded by the European Union (EU). It is an activity implemented under the EU COUNCIL DECISION 2010/179/CFSP, dated 11 March 2010, in support of SEESAC arms control activities in the Western Balkans within the framework of the EU Strategy to combat the illicit accumulation and trafficking of SALW and their ammunition.
Video - Less Arms, Less Tragedies - SALW Collection Campaign in Croatia
With the financial assistance of the European Union, SEESAC supports organization of campaigns to collect weapons, explosive devices, ordinances and associated ammunition in countries across the Western Balkans. One such collection campaign is currently taking place in Croatia, most recently in the town of Krapina. In collaboration with the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Croatia, and through a campaign entitled "Less Arms, Less Tragedies" residents are encouraged to turn in any weapons they might have at their homes, without fear of legal consequences.
