Disarmament in Review
24 September 2012 — A compendium of assistance proposals was issued to coincide with the Second Review Conference of the UN Programme of Action on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons. These proposals were submitted by Member States through their 2012 national reports under the Programme of Action.
Many States have expressed interest in improving their own capacity on small arms control. Increasingly, assistance needs figure in countries’ national reports on the implementation of the UN Programme of Action (PoA) on small arms. The United Nations assist national authorities in developing assistance proposals from their submissions. Donors can choose from this compilation the projects which best fit their policy, whereas affected countries can initiate resource mobilisation for the coming biennium.
National ownership >> All proposals originated from, were developed with and endorsed by national authorities on
small arms.
Coordination >> These proposals have been coordinated within the UN system including regional centres and UN country teams, and where possible with regional organizations.
Development of proposals >> These proposals are indications for assistance opportunities. They can be
developed into full-fledged project proposals when an implementing agency is identified. The initial budgets for the
proposals are indicative and modest: In many cases, only the first stage of activities is budgeted.
Marking/record-keeping and stockpile management >> The current set of proposals was presented at the 2012 PoA Review Conference, New York, 27 August – 7 September 2012. The trend of the current proposals shows most requests for international assistance are related to marking/record-keeping or stockpile management of small arms. Twenty-four (24) out of 26 States in this compilation prioritise proposals in these thematic areas.
Clearing house >> www.poa-iss.org is the Programme of Action Implementation Support System information platform, where all information on small arms control in the context of the United Nations comes together. PoA-ISS uses the International Small Arms Control Standards (ISACS) throughout. Together with the meetings of the Group of Interested States (GIS) on these proposals, they form a functioning clearing house for assistance and cooperation in the field of small arms control measures.
Governments in a position to provide assistance are encouraged to contact directly the indicated national focal point, or UNODA, to explore how to proceed with concrete cooperation and assistance on the priority issues indicated in this compilation.
