Vienna, 11 – 14 January 2022, the UNODC Global Firearms Programme (GFP) held a second Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on development of Guidelines on investigation and prosecution of firearms trafficking cases (Guidelines). The second EGM was held in hybrid format and gathered more than 50 criminal justice practitioners from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Western Balkans, members of the international community from Canada, France, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and the UK, as well as the representatives of FRONTEX and INTERPOL.
Pursuant to the first EGM, UNODC GFP developed draft text of the Guidelines and structure of the Global Digest of Firearms Cases (Digest) has been simultaneously developed, by having in mind the adjudication stage as an integral part of the criminal proceedings. UNDOC GFP had a privilege to present and discuss these two complementary documents with the criminal justice practitioners during the second EGM.
The main outcomes of the event were the valuable inputs obtained from the meeting participants, alongside with written inputs and case examples related to investigation, prosecution and adjudication of illicit firearms trafficking and firearms-related offences on the global level.
In the forthcoming period, GFP will organize subsequent EGM to validate the Guidelines and continue the work on the Digest.
This activity is implemented with the financial support provided by Western Balkans SALW Control Multi-Partner Trust Fund, Government of France and the European Union.
