UNODC jointly with UNOCT builds the capacity of law enforcement, customs, and border control officers in Kyrgyz Republic and in the Republic of Kazakhstan

UNODC jointly with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) conducted five days’ long national trainings on ‘Countering International Firearms Trafficking, Associated Crimes, and Terrorism: Investigation and Prosecution of Firearms Trafficking and its Nexus to Terrorism and other Crimes’ in the Kyrgyz Republic on 24–28 October and in the Republic of Kazakhstan on 31 October - 4 November 2022 for criminal justice officials, customs, and border control, as well as arms control authorities.

The trainings were aimed at strengthening the capacity of prosecutors, investigators, and judges to investigate, prosecute and effectively handle terrorism cases involving illegal production, circulation, or diversion of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and connect them with other serious crimes and terrorism. 

 

The events brought together over 16 representatives of the State Committee for National Security, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Supreme Court, State Customs Service, and the General Prosecutor's Office of the Kyrgyz Republic and 20 representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Security Council, National Security Committee, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Courts of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

 

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The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, in his latest Report on Small Arms and Light Weapons (2021) stated that “threats related to the misuse, illicit transfer and destabilizing accumulation of small arms and light weapons and their ammunition have remained a defining factor in undermining peace and security at the national, regional and global levels” (RU).

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Judicial and law enforcement agencies in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan enhanced their knowledge in detection, interdiction, investigation, and prosecution of terrorism activities involving illicitly manufactured, trafficked, or diverted SALW by criminal groups. Special focus was given to gender and human rights consideration. 

The participants were introduced to the global dimension and the impact of illicit trafficking in firearms, with a focus on the connections and support of terrorism. It also provided an introduction to the main instruments on firearms and the UN instruments on preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons. The training participants also touched upon the national legal framework on firearms and terrorism in both countries, including identified gaps and loopholes and discussed how to overpass these legislative challenges during the investigation and prosecution phases.

This training course was organized in the framework of the joint UNOCT-UNODC project on “Addressing the terrorism-arms-crime nexus: Preventing and combatting the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons and their illicit supply to terrorists” for criminal justice practitioners (prosecutors, investigators, judges) of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The initiative is funded by Canada.   

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More about UNODC Global Firearms Programmehttps://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/firearms-protocol/

For further information please contact: 

Arifa Fatikhova 

Communications and External Relations Officer

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 

Regional Office for Central Asia

Mobile: (+998 93) 505-05-58 | Email: arifa.fatikhova[at]un.org