The event brought together practitioners from the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, from 26 regional prosecutor’s offices, Security Service of Ukraine, State Bureau of Investigation and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Ukrainian participants presented various challenges related to illicit firearms. As a major issue was identified the lack of harmonization between the criminal law and the criminalization provisions of UN Firearms Protocol, and specifically the lack of specific offences on illicit firearms trafficking. The Ukrainian participants presented also numerous cases of illicit firearms that can be linked to countries in the European Union.
The next component of the workshop included sharing of information on operations from representatives of EUROPOL, Hungary, Italy, Romania and Spain, highlighting also the links to Ukraine in specific cases. The representative of the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT) presented important information about the activities supported with participation of Ukrainian representatives and highlighted concrete examples how Ukrainian practitioners can receive further support for investigation and prosecution of illicit firearms trafficking.
The workshop was supported through a generous contribution from Germany.
