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Trafficking of small arms and light weapons

The international community has increasingly acknowledged and expressed its concern at the nexus between terrorism and multiple forms of organized crime, including trafficking of small arms and light weapons (SALW), as a serious threat to peace, security and an obstacle to sustainable development. Illicitly trafficked and acquired SALW, their parts and components and ammunition, play a critical role as an enabler of armed violence, and as a funding source and threat multiplier of terrorist groups acting alone or in concert, on a national, regional and global scale.

The project will address the terrorism-armscrime nexus, by enhancing criminal justice responses to prevent and combat the illicit trafficking of SALW and to disrupt the illicit supply of such arms to terrorist groups. More specifically, it will contribute to the enhancement of national legislative, strategic and operational capacities of countries in Central Asia. Project activities will include  missions to map the regional situation, take stock of relevant legislation and identify  response capacities to the threat posed by firearms trafficking, terrorism and related crimes.

The project will be co-implemented in 2020/ 2021 by the United Nations Counter Terrorism Centre of the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism, the , through its Global Firearms Programme and in collaboration with the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. 

The project is funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation.

Mandate

The General Assembly and the Security Council, through the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and relevant resolutions, have consistently stressed the need to stem the illicit traffic and supply of small arms and light weapons to terrorists.

The project is supporting the implementation of (2017) and the .

The main instruments to counter these transnational threats and prevent the illicit access of weapons to organised crime and terrorist groups are the , and its supplementary , and other global instruments like the Arms Trade Treaty and the .

Central Asian countries have affirmed their political engagement to fight terrorism and transnational crime including by developing a Joint Plan of Action to operationalize the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, which is being implemented in the region since 2010.

Project outcomes

• Enhanced normative and institutional frameworks, and regulatory measures, to prevent and counter terrorist illicit access to SALW, in particular through illicit manufacturing, trafficking or diversion
• Strengthened capacity of i) border control and customs authorities to detect and dismantle criminal groups and networks engaged in illicit arms trafficking and engaged in effective cross-border cooperation and information exchange; and ii) criminal justice officials to investigate, prosecute and deal effectively with terrorism cases involving illicitly manufactured, trafficked or diverted SALW
• Effective international judicial and law enforcement cooperation and information sharing at national, regional and international level, as well as exchange of case-based experiences and good practices in detecting, investigating and prosecuting complex cases involving the terrorism- SALW-organized crime nexus

Impact

The project on addressing the terrorism-arms-crime nexus aims to contribute to the enhancement of capacities to prevent, detect and counter firearms trafficking and activities associated with terrorism and organized crime in Central Asia.