On 21 September 2021 in Novi Sad, Serbia, the UNODC Global Firearms Programme (GFP) held a meeting to foster the inter-institutional exchange of information in firearms trafficking cases. The meeting gathered nine participants from prosecution offices, border and criminalistic police, and customs officers, competent for the border crossing points between Serbia and Hungary / Croatia.
The meeting presented an opportunity for an overview of the implementation of the Criminal Procedure Code by the relevant practitioners. The adjudicated cases on firearms seizures at respective border crossings were presented, good practices and challenges were identified, as well as remedial solutions to address firearms trafficking and to improve information sharing.
The main outcomes of the event were consensus to strive towards the compliance of domestic criminal legislation with the UNTOC and UN Firearms Protocol, profiling the needs of the first-line responders during pre-investigation, investigation and indicting stages of firearms-related cases, utilizing tracing procedures and international cooperation tools to address the firearms trafficking.
This activity is implemented with the financial support provided by Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway through the Western Balkans SALW Control Roadmap Trust Fund and supported by the European Union.
