Roadmap vision: The Western Balkans is a safer region and exporter of security, where comprehensive and sustainable mechanisms, fully harmonized with the European Union and other international standards, are in place to identify, prevent, prosecute, and control the illegal possession, misuses and trafficking of firearms, ammunition and explosives.
The Roadmap for a sustainable solution to arms control in the Western Balkans by 2030 envisages the Western Balkans as a safer region and an exporter of security where comprehensive and sustainable mechanisms, fully harmonized with the European Union (EU) and other international standards, are in place to identify, prevent, prosecute, and control the illegal possession, misuse and trafficking of firearms, ammunition and explosives. It is based on regional cooperation principles, and it draws upon SEESAC’s signature solution to arms control, which resulted from over a decade of work on all arms control-related aspects with governments in the region and in partnership with the EU.
The Roadmap was developed by the Western Balkans authorities with SEESAC’s technical support under the auspices of France and Germany and in consultation with the EU and all other relevant actors. The adoption of the document is the result of a record-breaking 5 months consultations process, started in Podgorica on 1 February 2018 at the high-level meeting, followed by discussions at the local level in all jurisdictions across the region, agreed upon in Tirana at the 9th Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Commissions Meeting and adopted at the London Summit held on 10 July 2018. Mainstreaming of gender into SALW control is an integral part of the Roadmap in order to ensure that SALW control interventions take into account the impact of firearms and the needs of both men and women.
In 2024, following a last round of consultations during the local coordination meetings, the SALW Commissions representatives expressed their agreement on the revised text of the Roadmap for 2025-2030 in the final session of the meeting, which was then endorsed by the Western Balkans Ministers of Interior during the EU - Western Balkans Ministerial Forum on Justice and Home Affairs in Montenegro in October 2024.
To fulfil the ambitious mission envisaged by its vision, the Roadmap comprises five goals, including ensuring that arms control legislation is in place, harmonized with the EU regulatory framework and other related international obligations, and standardized across the region by 2030. By 2030, arms control policies and practices in the Western Balkans should be evidence-based and intelligence-led, while the misuse, illicit manufacturing, illicit possession, and illicit flows of weapons, ammunition, and explosives should be significantly reduced. Additionally, the supply, demand, illicit possession, and misuse of arms, ammunition, and explosives should significantly decrease through prevention measures. The risk of proliferation and diversion should also substantially decrease through improved safety and security of stockpiles and the disposal of weapons, ammunition, and explosives.
The implementation of the Roadmap goals will contribute to compliance by the Western Balkans with related international treaties and agreements, including the United Nations (UN) Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in SALW in All Its Aspects, the Firearms Protocol, the Arms Trade Treaty, as well as the EU Strategy Against Illicit Firearms, Small Arms & Light Weapons & Their Ammunition. It will also contribute to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 16 on peaceful and just societies, in particular targets 16.1 (significantly reduce all forms of violence and death rate everywhere) and 16.4 (significantly reduce illicit arms flows) and Goal 5 on gender equality.
The full Roadmap 2030 text can be read here in: Albanian, BCMS, English, Macedonian.