European Union Continues to Support SEESAC’s Arms Control Activities

On 9 December the Council of the European Union passed the Council Decision 2013/730/CFSP in support of SEESAC disarmament and arms control activities in South East Europe. The decision was made within the framework of the EU Strategy to Combat the Illicit Accumulation and Trafficking of SALW and their Ammunition which identifies the Balkans and South-East Europe as regions particularly affected by the excessive accumulation and spread of SALW.

 

This new phase of activities builds upon the work SEESAC completed during the 2010-2012 period under the Council Decision 2010/179/CFSP, and is part of the overall SEESAC SALW Control portfolio. It significantly enhances SEESAC’s capacity to continue to strengthen safety and security through regional cooperation in South East Europe.

 

The new project, which was designed in close cooperation with national authorities, will work 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.
  • Enhancing regional cooperation on awareness raising, information sharing and knowledge transfer: through the facilitation of regional cooperation between national institutions tasked with arms control.
  • Collection and Awareness Raising Campaigns: supporting existing or future efforts to collect illicit and unwanted weapons held by the population.
     

Prior to 2010, the EU supported SEESAC through the Council Decision 2002/842/CFSP, dated 21 October 2002, implementing the Joint Action 2002/589/CFSP, extended and amended by Council Decisions 2003/807/CFSP dated 17 November 2003 and 2004/791/CFSP dated 22 November 2004. The implementation of these Decisions has been positively assessed by the Council.

 

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