On 7 November 2019, the Global Firearms Programme (GFP) participated in the 2 nd National Coordination Meeting on the implementation of the Roadmap for countering firearms trafficking in the Western Balkans, convened by the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.
The objective of the meeting was to review the progress achieved under the Roadmap, provide opportunity of national authorities to inform about their achievement and existing challenges, and allow donors and international organizations to brief on support for new activities. The representatives of France, Germany and EU addressed the participants of the meeting and confirmed their strong support for the ongoing initiatives to counter trafficking in firearms.
The National Commission presented the work of the BiH institutions for achieving the seven goals under the Roadmap and identified further areas of assistance.
The GFP discussed the activities of UNODC in supporting the criminal justice response against arms trafficking and highlighted its cooperation with the Customs Agency and the delivery of specialized trainings on detection of firearms, their parts and components, and ammunition at land border crossing points. The GFP underlined the comprehensive approach to this topic and the inclusion of representatives from the Prosecutor's Office and the national arms export control authorities. The GFP informed about the continuous cooperation with the Prosecutor's Office in BiH and the various activities on investigation and prosecution of arms trafficking and analysis of firearms trafficking cases. In BiH, the GFP has also provided support for the establishment the primary and secondary legislation on regulating firearms import marking.
The GFP referred to the forthcoming activities in BiH, which will focus on supporting the Customs Agency in detecting firearms in postal shipments, conducting a gap analysis for harmonization of the criminal legislation with the UN Firearms Protocol, and continuation of the work with the Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations on investigation and prosecution of illicit firearms trafficking.