On 14 October 2019, UNODC participated through its Global Firearms Programme in the 2 nd meeting of the Steering Committee of the UN Multi -Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) for the implementation of the Roadmap for countering firearms trafficking in the Western Balkans. The Trust Fund was created by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNODC to support Western Balkan countries in their fight against misuse, illegal possession and illicit trafficking of firearms and ammunition. The Steering Committee includes representatives from UNDP, UNODC and interested donor countries. The regional project of UNDP on Small Arms Control in South-Eastern Europe, SEESAC, acts as the Secretariat of the Fund.
The objective of the meeting was to review the project proposals received within the 1st call for project proposals of the WB SALW Control Roadmap MPTF and approve the allocation of funds. The Secretariat of the MPTT presented the status of contributions in MPTF and provided information about the current donor engagement. The Secretariat presented also project proposals submitted by the MPTF participating organizations, and the conclusions of the administrative and technical assessment, which have been conducted by various experts. UNODC has submitted for consideration by the Steering Committee a regional project that focuses on strengthening the criminal justice responses along the entire penal chain, from detection, to investigation prosecution and adjudication, and to enhance firearms and crime data collection, analysis and operational use in investigations. The Steering Committee will announce in due course the results of the evaluation process.