SEEFEN highlighted in the latest UN Secretary-General’s biennial report on SALW

NEW YORK – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented his latest biennial report on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) on 13 May 2015 during an all-day open debate on SALW at the United Nations Security Council.  The report highlights SEESAC’s regional initiative, the South East Europe Firearms Expert Network (SEEFEN) established under the EU Support of SEESAC Disarmament and Arms Control Activities in South East Europe (EUSAC) project, as an example of best practice.
 

SEEFEN is emphasized in the report as one of the several initiatives with regional and police organizations for operational information exchange at the national and regional levels that is established by the UNDP.
 

The report gives an overview of the situation and subsequently presents 14 recommendations that address the illicit circulation of SALW and their misuse and diversion through legislation, tracing and marking procedures, safe storage and destruction of SALW, as well as security sector reform, peacekeeping operations and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes.
 

Widespread availability of SALW leads to “more than 50,000 deaths each year”, UN Secretary General said adding that the issue of SALW could be clearly addressed since “guns can be licensed, marked or confiscated; ammunition can be tracked, remove or destroyed; and depots can be guarded, cleared or secured”.
  

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon insisted on the necessity for Member States to “strengthen their cooperation among each other and with relevant international, regional and sub regional organizations with regards to the sharing of operational information for the tracing of illicit weapons” (Recommendation 13).
 

SEEFEN was created to facilitate the exchange of information and transfer of knowledge within the region and between the region and the EU, promoting in the process practical cooperation in fighting the illegal possession and trafficking of firearms. The members of the Network are senior investigators, members of the Police services, Customs Administrations, and Public Prosecutors’ Offices of: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Moldova, Kosovo¹, Serbia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Network held its second meeting in Belgrade on 19-20 May 2015.
 

The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2220 on combating the “illicit transfer destabilizing accumulation and misuse” of SALW on 22 May 2015.