Division 3 Project description

The new phase of the SEESAC project will build upon the basis of the achievements under Council Decision 2013/730/CFSP and will focus on four main areas, maintaining the holistic approach to tackling the threat posed by SALW in the region. The four areas address the strategic/policy level as well as the operational aspects, combining more traditional SALW control approaches with a focus on law-enforcement capabilities and networking by looking at the main threats (large, poorly secured stockpiles; lack of information; increase in illicit trafficking; widespread illicit possession). In particular, the project will result in:

• increased regional cooperation, knowledge exchange and information-sharing, leading to enhanced capacity for evidence-based policymaking;

• improved capacity for PSSM through infrastructure security upgrades, surplus reduction and training;

• enhanced capacity for marking, tracing and record-keeping;

• reduced illicit possession and misuse of firearms through support for awareness-raising and collection campaigns.

The project's strategy is grounded in SEESAC's unique approach of building and fostering confidence and cooperation in the region as a prerequisite for achieving concrete and measurable transformational change. In particular, at the regional level, the different processes facilitated by SEESAC, involving both policymakers and technical-level practitioners, have proven to be an essential ingredient in ensuring an enabling environment for knowledge transfer, expertise exchange and information-sharing. This has served not only to increase the capacities in the region, but more importantly to build confidence and establish bridges of cooperation among institutions and individual experts. In turn, the atmosphere of professional trust enables national-level progress on issues tackled by this project: PSSM, including surplus reduction; marking, tracing and record-keeping; operational-level cooperation between law-enforcement; and cross-border cooperation. In addition, the regional cooperation approach has made the region more transparent and efficient in its efforts to control the arms trade, with the result that the SEE states are among the most transparent globally in their reporting on arms transfers. Therefore, the project will continue to foster regional cooperation as the essential enabling element for measurable results.

The project's geographic scope is SEE, with direct project beneficiaries being Albania, BiH, Kosovo, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and FYROM. In addition, the project will seek to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and expertise to Eastern European countries dealing with the same SALW problems, in particular Ukraine and Belarus.