Small Arms / Light Weapons

Speech of Director of SP WT III Pieter Verbeek at the Fourth Regional Steering Group for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in South Eastern Europe

Dear colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, let me thank all of you for coming to Belgrade. In particular I am very grateful to H.E. Defence Minister Davinic for addressing this event. I would especially like to thank the Government of Serbia and Montenegro not only for hosting this meeting, but also for its clearly expressed readiness to continue to host in Belgrade the South East European Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC) and its activities in the future.

We consider this RSG meeting as an essential part of the current preparations for the upcoming Stability Pact Regional Table and Working Table III meetings in Portoro_ / Slovenia on 7-8 June 2004. Moreover, this is an excellent opportunity to take stock of the two years of existence of SEESAC and to critically review our common achievements and the challenges ahead of us in a constantly changing security environment, including in the area of SALW.

SEESAC - a joint project of the Stability Pact and UNDP - has become the leading actor in the field of combating the threat of uncontrolled and excess SALW in the SEE region after being established in May 2002. In this connection I’d like to thank both the first SEESAC Team Leader Henny van der Graaf and the current one Adrian Wilkinson for their excellent and dedicated work.

The Stability Pact will continue to support SEESAC as the main tool of implementation of the Stability Pact Regional Implementation Plan on SALW in eight countries in South Eastern Europe and as the main instrument for capacity-building in the area of SALW control, which should enable the governments of the region to keep addressing this issue in the future. Therefore, I am looking forward to hearing your views regarding the project document on a second two-year phase of SEESAC starting in January 2005 (SEESAC Phase 2).

In this context, one point has to be underlined very openly: real progress could hardly be achieved without a properly and effectively working network of SALW National Focal Points (NFPs). A recent assessment of the functioning of this network has led to the conclusion that the role of the NFPs and their influence within the governmental structures in the respective countries should be strengthened substantially. Therefore, the Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact has raised this point with the governments of the countries concerned. We are looking forward to seeing improvement in this area as soon as possible.

In the area of arms control, regional cooperation is necessary in order to further stabilize the SEE region. This fact has also been stressed during the first meeting of the Defence Ministers of the South Eastern European Countries held in Sarajevo on 15 April 2004 as well as at the last meeting of the MAG of RACVIAC in Ankara. The enormous stocks of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in the region represent a serious threat both to the stability in the region and to the safety of its citizens. From this perspective, finding regional solutions to accelerate the reduction of those stockpiles will be crucial.

Security Sector Reform, Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), Defence Conversion, effective border security and management and the fight against organized crime and corruption, including trafficking in human beings, are all part of the Stability Pact’s WT III agenda. Many of these security issues are interrelated. Therefore, the proliferation and circulation of illicit SALW throughout South Eastern Europe should not be addressed in isolation, but as part of this integrated agenda.

Cooperation on the basis of MoUs exists already between SEESAC and the Regional Arms Control Verification and Implementation Assistance Centre (RACVIAC) and between SEESAC and the South East European Cooperation Initiative’s Regional Centre for Combating Transborder Crime in Bucharest. Cooperation is also needed with some other SP's security-related initiatives and Task Forces, such as the Initiative to Fight Organized Crime (SPOC) and the Police Forum for South Eastern Europe and the Border Security and Management Issues Initiative (also called “Ohrid Border Process”).

Speaking about broader international cooperation in combating SALW proliferation in SEE, let me highly commend the efforts and actions undertaken by other international organizations (in particular our partner in SEESAC, UNDP and by OSCE, NATO, EU) and by individual states in assisting some SEE countries with the reduction of surplus SALW and ammunition. The SP will continue to support cooperation and partnership with the relevant international partners, regional initiatives and individual donor countries.

Evidently our efforts aimed at fighting organized crime, corruption or international terrorism could hardly be successful without the strong engagement of various international and national NGOs. Speaking about SALW in particular, let me stress that we fully recognize and appreciate the role of the NGOs (like the Szeged Small Arms Process/SSAP and Saferworld) in combating the proliferation of SALW, in raising public awareness, in engaging civil society in concrete actions in the field and in assisting journalists to inform the public about combating SALW problems in SEE.

I wish all of us stimulating discussions and a successful and pleasant meeting here in Belgrade. Thank you.