Justice and Security Sector / Countering Illicit Arms Trafficking (CIAT) Project (UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Duration

September 2017 – December 2022 (following project extension approval as the original end-of-project date was December 2021)

Beneficiary/ies

Main beneficiary: BIH Border Police, BIH Ministry of Security

Other beneficiaries: 15 police agencies at all three levels

Other indirect beneficiaries: state-level ministries (foreign trade, foreign affairs, communications, defense), Indirect Taxation Authority (customs)

Donor/s

Federal Republic of Germany

Republic of France

Funding Amount

EUR 900,000 (September 2017 – June 2019) USD 1,072,000 (July 2019 – December 2021)

Funding gaps (if any)

N/A

Objective/s

Overall objective: Strengthen BIH capacities to more effectively combat illicit arms trafficking.

• Develop standard-operating procedures on how to process illicit arms’ crimes for BIH Border Police and 14 other police agencies at all levels.
• Train police officers in BiH Border Police (1,500 already trained) and other 15 police agencies (2,000+ to be trained in 2020/2021).
• Purchase detection equipment for BIH Border Police for the surveillance of the green border and other 15 police agencies on SALW detection and include it in training.
• Liaise five state-level ministries and three law enforcement agencies to exchange information and improve cooperation at national and regional level pertaining to SALW export/import/transport.
• Develop three databases: a) for BiH Border Police – SALW identification platform (first version developed, upgrade pending); b) for the Ministry of Foreign Trade – database on arms’ export/import (current version upgraded, new to be upgraded in 2020/2021); and c) develop the database for the Ministry of Security on arms’ transport (project proposal developed, the database to be developed by 2021).

Contributing to the Roadmap goal/s

Contributing to the Roadmap overall targets

Goal 1:

• Ensure standardization of procedures and practices in the area of arms control and FAE investigations.

Goal 2:

• Increase national analytical capacities and institutionalize firearms data analysis.
• Institutionalize systematic collection of criminal justice data across the Criminal Justice Sector (at the level of Police and Customs, Prosecutors’ service, Court Service, Correctional and Penitentiary Services).

Goal 3:

• Ensure full implementation and monitoring of legal, policy and procedural framework on trafficking of FAE.
• Prevent trafficking (smuggling, illicit trade and transit) of FAE through improved processes, equipment and training of targeted law enforcement units.

Key activities implemented up to date

• Since its beginning, the project supported 14 law enforcement agencies to develop packages of SOPs on dealing with the detection of illegal SALW, aligning them with the relevant regulatory and legal frameworks of each police agency. The packages include five SOPs on data collection, tracing of weapons, running an investigation, risk analysis, and management of an emergency situation when arms and explosives unexpectedly emerge. The process of developing the SOPs, where police agencies supported each other in the process, highlighted the strong cooperation between the police agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This strengthened cooperation is expected to be replicated in other SALW-control related initiatives outside this project.
• The project team conceptualized and conducted two-day “train-the-trainer” trainings for all police agencies on application of SOPs developed within the project. Moreover, the trainers commenced with the one-day trainings for the delegated officers within their respective law enforcement agencies. To date, the Project supported training for total of 1,708 law enforcement officers (1,588 men and 120 women).
• The Database of SALW Transport Licenses (Database) has been installed on the servers of the Ministry of Security in December 2022 allowing for digitized information sharing, granting of transport licenses and monitoring of transport of SALW throughout the country. The Database also allowed connection and appropriate access for all law enforcement agencies in the country. Capacities of approximately 30 administrators and end-users of the National Database of SALW Transport Licenses have been increased through provision of training delivered by the IT company developing the software.   
• Following an assessment of the green border conducted in 2019 and subsequent discussions with the project partners, the project completed procurement and delivered to the end users the following specialized detection equipment: detectors (2 pieces for police agencies at the entity level), endoscopes (14 pieces for police agencies at the entity and cantonal level), remote surveillance cameras (100 pieces for the Border Police), binoculars (6 pieces for the Border Police), and augmented vison binoculars for long-range surveillance (6 pieces for the Border Police). As earlier noted, the agreed equipment for the Border Police represents a change from what was initially planned in the project (2 scanners and 2 thermal imaging binoculars).  As previously reported, the project also procured and delivered additional 30 videoscopes for 11 law enforcement agencies.
• The SALW Identification Tool to foster Border Police’s outreach to law enforcement agencies and Prosecutor’s Office has been developed.  As previously reported, the Project procured 23 laptop computers for SALW Identification Tool on which the Tool was installed and distributed to the law enforcement agencies.
• Along with the developed Tool, the Project also provided 23 laptops with fully installed SALW Identification Tool for 13 law enforcement agencies throughout the jurisdiction. Additionally, 12 officers of the Border Police of BiH received training on the use of SALW Identification Tool.
• Improved cooperation, coordination, and communication between various law enforcement agencies in BiH through organization of the first, pilot joint exercise for 25 police officers (25 men) from 15 agencies.
• Better internal cooperation, improved efficiency in processing and prosecuting SALW related crimes ensured through active participation of Prosecutor’s Office of BiH in project activities, namely participation of two state prosecutors and the Head of Investigations within Prosecutor’s Office in joint exercises. 
• The project supported one-day training on application of SOPs developed within the project and use of specialized detection equipment within two remaining law enforcement agencies (Brcko District Police and Zenica-Doboj Canton police).