The regional project Support to the implementation of the Roadmap for a sustainable solution to the illegal possession, misuse and trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and their ammunition in the Western Balkans was established in 2019 as a funding mechanism for addressing key challenges in the implementation of the Roadmap and for further supporting the progress made by the Western Balkans jurisdictions in this sense. The regional project provides the framework for a coordinated approach of the SALW control efforts conducted by the UNDP Offices in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, facilitating knowledge and experience sharing, and better guidance towards addressing the specific SALW control needs of the Wester Balkans jurisdictions. The project covers a wide array of topics from countering illicit arms trafficking to enhancing ballistic capacities and security upgrade of SALW storages, and has enabled the implementation of pilot and flagship projects in the areas of gender and SALW control, ballistics, and countering illicit arms trafficking that can be scaled up or replicated in different jurisdictions through the Western Balkans SALW Control Roadmap Multi Partner Trust Fund.
The regional project is coordinated by UNDP SEESAC and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, Germany, through a EUR 5.5 million contribution provided through the UNDP Funding Windows.
The project has so far helped improve the collection and analysis of firearm-related crime evidence, achieve a more effective and standardized approach in countering illicit arms trafficking, improve firearm-related data record-keeping and collection facilitating thus the operational information exchange, and better understand mainstreaming gender considerations into the policy and legislative framework of arms control as well as the impact of firearms use on domestic and gender-based violence.
Details about the projects funded through the Regional Project are available in the sub-sections or in the links below:
- Albania: Support Albania’s Law Enforcement Authorities to Strengthen Firearms Criminality Evidence Management and Investigation Capacities
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: Countering Illicit Arms Trafficking (CIAT)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: Urgent Action on Ammunition Destruction - Project EXPLODE+
- Kosovo: Support to counter Illicit arms trafficking
- Montenegro: Rogame SALW Storage Upgrade
- North Macedonia: Improving national SALW-related practices and building violence-resilient communities
- Serbia: Reduce risk - Increase safety – Towards ending SALW misuse in domestic violence context
- Serbia: Advancing the Capacities of the Ministry of Interior in the Field of Custody Chain, Crime Scene Investigations and the Ballistic Laboratory in the Field of Operations and Investigations in Trafficking of Firearms and Firearms Criminality