SALW destruction
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In May 2003, during the RACVIAC sponsored seminar on “SALW - A year after Implementation of the Stability Pact Plan”, SEESAC agreed to develop a framework and then take responsibility for the future development of regional micro-disarmament standards and guidelines. Today, SEESAC’s Regional Micro-Disarmament Standard and Guidelines (RMDS/G) on SALW Destruction help ensure that all safety precautions are taken during the SALW collection and destruction activities. The RMDS/G reflect the ongoing development of operational procedures, practices and norms, and are constantly updated to reflect the latest developments and practices in Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Control. See http://www.seesac.org/resources/standards-rmdsg/1/
Recently SEESAC’s work has been focused on directly assisting local authorities diminishing the risk of arms proliferation by significantly reducing the number of illegal, unwanted or surplus weapons in storage. Some of the more recent activities within this realm include:
- Provided technical advice and assistance to the Republic of Montenegro, Republic of Serbia and UNDP Sofia for the destruction of 30,387 SALW in total and ammunition collected during their respective 2003 national weapons amnesties. Provided ‘seed funding’ to further develop Montenegrin, Serbian and Bulgarian national destruction capacities.
- Assisted the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia in planning and executing a destruction of 27,000 SALW in 2009 and 28,285 SALW in 2010.
- In 2009, provided support to the Moldovan Ministry of Interior in destroying 2,374 of SALW confiscated and voluntarily surrendered since 2007. The Moldovan Government has destroyed over 6,000 weapons since 2005.
Currently, SEESAC is implementing SALW destruction activities funded by the European Union (EU) under the EU COUNCIL DECISION 2010/179/CFSP, dated 11 March 2010, in support of SEESAC arms control activities in the Western Balkans, and within the framework of the EU Strategy to combat the illicit accumulation and trafficking of SALW and their ammunition.
These activities are ongoing and are taking place in Serbia and Croatia:
- Serbia: In December 2010, SEESAC helped Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia plan and execute a destruction of 28,285 surplus and confiscated weapons. Negotiations regarding the identification of another 11,715 weapons and their destruction were initiated in early 2011. The Ministry is now reviewing their stockpiles outside of the Belgrade area and is allocating surplus and confiscated weapons for destruction.
- Croatia: SEESAC supported the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Croatia to execute the planned destruction of 30,000 surplus and confiscated SALW in the course of 2011. These activities are ongoing.
So far, through collective SEESAC and UNDP efforts, since 2000, the amount of unwanted and surplus SALW and ammunition in the Western Balkans region has diminished by approximately 250,000 pieces.
|
COUNTRY / ENTITY |
DATES |
NUMBER OF DESTROYED WEAPONS |
|
Albania |
2000/2002 |
16,000 |
|
Bosnia |
2004 |
20,000 |
|
Bosnia |
2005-2006 |
91,898 |
|
Bulgaria |
2003 |
4,500 |
|
Croatia |
2011 |
16,329 |
| Croatia | 2012 | 2044 |
|
Macedonia |
2005 |
2,262 |
|
Moldova |
2005 |
1,687 |
|
Moldova |
2007 |
2,197 |
|
Moldova |
2009 |
2,379 |
|
Montenegro |
2003 |
5,028 |
|
Montenegro |
2006 |
2,159 |
|
Serbia |
2003 |
20,859 |
|
Serbia |
2004 |
22 |
|
Serbia |
2005 |
7,018 |
|
Serbia |
2006 |
7,918 |
|
Serbia |
2009 |
27,000 |
|
Serbia |
2010 |
28,285 |
|
Total |
|
257,585 |
Video - SALW Destruction in Serbia on 03 October 2009
