UN: Key meeting to regulate small arms controls

 

This week, UN Member States are meeting to discuss progress in implementing the 2001 UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in small arms and light weapons (SALW) in All Its Aspects, (The UN PoA), and to look at steps for its improvement.

The UN PoA is the key international agreement on controlling the illicit trade in, and misuse of, SALW and has been the stimulus for action on the international problem of trade in SALW since its creation in 2001. However, progress has been slower than desired. The 2008 Biennial Meeting of States (BMS), taking place in New York from 14 to 18 July, provides a critical opportunity to re-invigorate the PoA process.

Saferworld, an NGO that works to prevent and reduce violent conflict and promote co-operative approaches to security, is launching a number of publications to support this ambition, including:

Reports on the implementation of UN PoA commitments as they apply to international transfers of SALW in Moldova and Uganda;

A report examining how integrated approaches to disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) and post-conflict security programming have been applied in Sudan.

A briefing on how the UN PoA process as a whole can be made more effective and become more relevant to those people whose lives are being devastated by SALW proliferation and misuse.

Reports can be found on the Saferworld website:

‘Moldova and international small arms transfers: Implementing UN Programme of Action commitments’

http://www.saferworld.org.uk/publications.php?id=327

 

‘Uganda and international small arms transfers: Implementing UN Programme of Action commitments’

http://www.saferworld.org.uk/publications.php?id=328

 

‘Developing integrated approached to post-conflict security and recovery: A case study of integrated DDR in Sudan’

http://www.saferworld.org.uk/publications.php?id=326

 

‘Third Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the UN Programme of Action’

http://www.saferworld.org.uk/publications.php?id=330

 

Beyond this, the focus of this year’s BMS will be to assess implementation in four areas including: brokering controls, stockpile management, the International Tracing Instrument and improving international co-operation and assistance.

Find out more

www.saferworld.org