SECRETARY-GENERAL’S SIXTH BIENNIAL REPORT ON SMALL ARMS RELEASED
Recent developments undertaken in the Western Balkans featured as examples of good practices in addressing SALW control challenges
The Secretary-General’s sixth biennial Report on Small Arms and Light Weapons, released on 30 December 2019 reiterates that the “destabilizing accumulation, illicit transfer and misuse of small arms and light weapons continue to initiate, sustain and exacerbate armed conflict and pervasive crime” and underlines that “small arms and light weapons remain a primary tool for armed conflict and violence”.
The report highlights recent efforts to tackle challenges related to small arms and light weapons control such as the outcome of the third UN PoA Review Conference as well as a disarmament agenda, Securing Our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament. Furthermore, special attention is paid to the protection of civilians in armed conflict, peace operations, arms embargoes, women and peace and security, children and armed conflict, counter-terrorism, and transnational organized crime.
Ongoing efforts to address SALW related challenges undertaken in the Western Balkans are featured in the Report. The Western Balkans Roadmap for Sustainable SALW Control adopted in 2018 by the authorities in the region is recognized as “a welcome development, in particular in terms of its emphasis on specific targets and timelines, which could serve as a model for approaches in other regions”.
Within the considerations addressing gendered nature of SALW, the Report highlight that despite highly gendered aspect of small arms, gender responsive policies are still in the making. The lack of sex and age disaggregated data is persistent hindering development of adequate policy response. In that regard, efforts undertaken in the Western Balkans to increase the availability of sex-disaggregated data are recognized as an example of good practice.
The report concludes with a call for a comprehensive approach to small arms and light weapons in order to address effectively numerous challenges at hand, ranging from “ranging from human rights, counter-terrorism, organized crime, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance and socioeconomic development to refugees and internal displacement, gender and children’s rights”.