Division 1 OBJECTIVES

The objective of this Decision is to support the fight against the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons (‘SALW’) by minimising the risk of diversion, including through theft, loss and unauthorised re-export, of SALW to illicit markets, illegal armed groups, terrorists and other unauthorised recipients. Therefore, this Decision will support the United Nations (UN) Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in SALW in All Its Aspects (‘the UN PoA’) and the International Tracing Instrument (‘the ITI’) as well as ensure their relevance and increase their effectiveness.

To that end, this Decision will support actions towards a successful outcome of the 2018 Third UN Conference to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the UN PoA (‘RevCon3’). This Decision will support the preparation of RevCon3 through a series of thematic symposia and regional conferences. The thematic symposia will facilitate the elaboration of action-oriented findings on topics related to SALW control. The selected topics were defined as priorities in EU working papers submitted to UN PoA meetings (BMS5 in 2014 and BMS6 in 2016) and were largely taken over in the outcome documents of those meetings. The regional conferences will allow for engagement with government representatives and regional organisations from selected regions on the topics from the thematic symposia. The goal is to consolidate the positive outcome of BMS6 in the outcome of RevCon3. Other actions to support a successful outcome of RevCon3 will be: a comprehensive analysis of UN Member States' national reports on the implementation of the UN PoA and the ITI, to be presented at RevCon3; a sponsorship programme for the participants of third countries; and technical support for the RevCon3 President.