Regional Steering Group on SALW Convenes for Successful Annual Meeting
On March 7, 2024, the Regional Steering Group (RSG) on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) held its annual meeting online, bringing together key stakeholders from across Southeast and Eastern Europe. Co-chaired by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the meeting focused on progress, challenges, and priorities in combating the proliferation and impact of SALW in the region.
During the meeting, SEESAC’s Project Manager, Ms. Bojana Balon gave an extensive overview of the organization’s achievements in 2023, while also introducing goals and priorities for the project activities in 2024. Throughout the past year, SEESAC played a key role in fostering regional cooperation and providing substantive support to the SALW Commissions and their arms control capabilities. In addition to organizing targeted training sessions and developing practical tools, SEESAC also prioritized the strengthening of the communication channels in the region.
Various SEESAC activities have contributed to bolstering capacities of physical security and stockpile management which contributed to an increase in security in the Western Balkans and Moldova. Some of the achievements include the security upgrade of 30 evidence rooms, construction of 1 evidence room, as well as the destruction of 3932 pieces of SALW in different jurisdictions.
One of the most prominent activities supported by SEESAC in 2023 include the awareness raising campaigns- both locally and regionally. In addition, the voluntary SALW collection campaign conducted by the MoI of Serbia, yielded unprecedented results- with the collection of 82,398 pieces of SALW and 26,485 explosive ordinances by 30 June.
The past year was also greatly successful for SEESAC in terms of the published knowledge products, including several different reports such as the Quarterly Armed Violence Monitor Reports and the Regional Report on Arms Exports for 2020 and 2021, focusing on armed violence trends and arms trafficking. Finally, SEESAC conducted extensive regional analyses on women's participation in SALW control and institutional responses to firearms misuse, contributing valuable insight to gender mainstreaming.
When it comes to the online gathering, the opening session of the Regional Steering Group meeting featured remarks from Ms. Steliana Nedera, Manager of UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub, Ambassador Stephan Klement, Special Envoy for Disarmament, Non-proliferation, and Arms Export Control of the EU External Action Service, and Ms. Jorida Shytaj, Senior Political Adviser of the Political Department at the Regional Cooperation Council.
During her speech, Ms. Nedera stressed the continuous misuse of firearms which creates serious safety and security risks, particularly impacting women in Southeast Europe. The Manager of UNDP’s Istanbul Regional Hub expressed her appreciation to all national authorities and donors, especially the European Union, for their invaluable assistance in this critical mission to create a safer region and pursue broader UN Sustainable Development Goals.
His Excellency Stephan Klement outlined the substantial and pivotal support of the European Union, and commended Southeast and Eastern Europe for its good practices and expertise in different areas related to SALW control. In his video address, he reiterated the strong partnership of the European Union with UNDP, praising the vital cooperation achieved with SEESAC.
Ms. Jorida Shytaj emphasized the importance of the annual meetings in evaluating progress toward the jointly adopted Regional Implementation Plan. She applauded the diligence of national focal points and underscored the need for collective efforts in tackling illegal possession, trafficking, and misuse of SALW. Ms. Shytaj once more highlighted RCC’s full support of the SALW control Roadmap.
The RSG meetings are an essential part of the SEESAC’s governance structure that provide strategic guidance and ensure regional ownership. This year’s meeting gathered the representatives of the SALW National Focal Points from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia. The representatives of the UNDP Country Offices in Southeast and East Europe, the European Union, EMPACT, EUROPOL, FRONTEX, OSCE, Flemish Peace Institute, Interpol, NATO, UNODC, UNIDIR, NABIS, AMAT, PFSALW, and MAG, also attended the meeting, as well as the representatives of the key donor countries - Germany, France, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
In her closing remarks, Ms. Steliana Nedera expressed gratitude for the large number of meeting participants while emphasizing the necessity of strong cooperation among all partners and acknowledging the significant progress made by SEESAC with support from the EU and other donors.
Despite challenges, there was a collective devotion to maintaining momentum in joint arms control efforts, including through the Revised Roadmap for implementation beyond 2024.
The meeting concluded with reaffirmed support from RCC and UNDP, along with a commitment to maintaining a secure and safe environment in Southeast and Eastern Europe.
The meeting was organized with funding support provided by the European Union through EU Council Decision (CD) 2019/2111, amended by EU Council Decision 2024/381, in support of SEESAC disarmament and arms control activities in South-East Europe reducing the threat of illicit small arms and light weapons and their ammunition.