UNDP Serbia Official Website

EU support to SEESAC arms control activities in the Western Balkans

On 15-16 December 2005, the European Council adopted the EU Strategy to combat the illicit accumulation and trafficking of SALW and their ammunition (EU SALW Strategy) which sets the guidelines for the EU action in the field of SALW. The EU SALW Strategy identifies among its objectives the need to foster effective multilateralism so as to forge mechanisms, whether international, regional or within the EU and its Member States, for countering the supply and destabilizing spread of SALW and their ammunition. The Strategy also identifies the Western Balkans as one of the regions most affected by the illicit trade and excessive accumulation of weapons, as a recipient, exporting of transit regions. The European Union previously financed SEESAC through Council Decision 2002/842/CFSP of 21 October 2002, renewed by Council Decision 2004/791CFSP of 22 November 2004. The implementation of these Council Decisioins was positively assessed by the Council of the European Union.

The European Union pursues the promotion of peace and security in the Western Balkans through its support for effective multilateralism and for relevant regional initiatives aiming at reducing the risk posed to peace and security by the proliferation and excessive accumulation of small arms and light weapons and their ammunition. In order to achieve this objective, the EU will support a SEESAC project aiming to reduce the threat posed by SALW to security in the Western Balkans. The activities to be supported by the EU shall have the following specific objectives: 1) to improve the management and security of unsafe and unstable stockpiles of weapons and ammunition; 2) to reduce the available stockpiles of weapons and ammunition through destruction activities; 3) to enhance SALW control through the implementation of international and national instruments on marking and tracing in the Western Balkans countries and the improvement of weapons registration processes.

The revision of the SEESAC’s Project Document reflects a new outcome: “Promotion of peace and security in the Western Balkans by reducing the risk posed by the proliferation and excessive accumulation of small arms and light weapons.” The Project Document establishes a two-year (Apr 2010 – Apr 2012) programme, whose overall goal is to reduce the risk posed by the proliferation and accumulation of weapons in the Western Balkan countries.

Project document