Small Arms / Light Weapons

Executive Summary of the 4th Meeting of the Regional Steering Group for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in SEE

1) The Defence Minister of Serbia and Montenegro, H.E. Prvoslav Davinic addressed the meeting. He expressed full support of the Regional Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in SEE (SEESAC). The Government of Serbia and Montenegro is ready to continue hosting SEESAC. Serbia and Montenegro has made significant progress in collecting and destroying small arms and light weapons. He also pointed out that the illegal possession of SALW in the SEE region is closely linked with threat of terrorism and, therefore, represents a serious challenge to the security of Serbia and Montenegro and to the region. SALW disposal, a reduction in the number of SALW in the hands of civilian population as well as the establishment of legal basis for SALW trading (export, import) should be the key parts of SEESAC activities.

2) Pieter Verbeek, Director of SP WT III and the Chair of this meeting, spoke also on behalf of Ambassador Janez Premoze, SP WT III Chair. He underlined inter allia that a recent assessment of the functioning of SALW National Focal Points (NFPs) 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. In this connection, he mentioned a letter sent by the Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact in March 2004 to the Foreign Ministers and the SP National Co-ordinators of the eight SEE countries to address this problem. He expected that the proliferation and circulation of illicit SALW throughout South Eastern Europe will become an important part of discussion on Defence Conversion at the upcoming WTIII meeting in Portoroz.

3) Peter Batchelor, the Representative of UNDP Office in Geneva, described SEESAC - one of the three UNDP regional SALW projects – as a very successful one. UNDP is ready to continue to support SEESAC and to continue cooperating with the countries in the region.

4) Adrian Wilkinson, SEESAC Team Leader, made a presentation on SEESAC activities since the last RSG meeting in Zagreb in October 2003.

5) Kate Joseph, UNDP Office in Geneva, provided the participants with a briefing about the SEESAC Assessment Visit Report which took place in February 2004 and its main conclusions. She noted that although SEESAC has been highly successful, its primary weakness is its lack of governmental involvement.

6) As pointed out by Adrian Wilkinson, this mid-term assessment of SEESAC by a joint UNDP BCPR SADU / Stability Pact / Donor team recommended that SEESAC should enter a new two-year phase from January 2005 to December 2006.

SEESAC Phase 2 should:

7) While expressing general support for SEESAC Phase 2, some participants underlined that this project could not be launched without sufficient political engagement of the countries concerned. Clearly expressed political commitment from their side to actively participate in the whole process of implementation of the Stability Pact Regional Implementation Plan on SALW, including SEESAC Phase 2, would also be an important indicator for the donor community to provide necessary funding. This commitment should be followed by immediate actions, in particular by rapid improvement in the functioning of the network of NFPs. Coordination with other international organisations and NGOs dealing with SALW in the SEE region has to be further strengthened. It would be desirable to raise awareness that SALW issues and other priorities on the side of SEE countries, such as integration into Euro –Atlantic structures, socio-economic development are interrelated.

8) SEESAC will distribute the new draft of SEESAC Phase 2 by 28 May 2004 to all RSG members, and feedback is requested before 18 June 2004. After this date, a silence procedure will be introduced. If it is not broken by 30 June 2004, the document will be considered as adopted, and subsequently fundraising will begin.

9) Many interesting points and comments have been mentioned during the discussion. In particular, the Saferworld presentation highlighted some important aspects, such as the implementation of SALW politics and relevant legislature, a need for cooperation among relevant governmental structures (a role of the National Focal Points is crucial here) and of international cooperation (SECI Centre has been mentioned in particular), a collection of “illegal” SALW, destruction of SALW (also linked with the process of Security Sector Reform in general and with downsizing of armed forces in the region in particular). Public awareness campaigns, providing the public with the relevant information and subsequently the role of the media are very important parts of the SALW portfolio. The importance of a network of NGOs and civil society organisations has been underlined.

10) The participants decided that the 5th meeting of the RSG will take place in mid-October, 2004. The Chair of the meeting has asked the countries of the region to consider hosting this event.Jiri Kalasnikov
SP WT III