The Indo-Pacific region, in all its vastness and diversity, presents many international security challenges. It is also a region with, thus far, limited engagement with the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Only 11 Indo-Pacific countries are currently states parties to the ATT, and nine states from the region have signed the Treaty but not yet ratified it.
Located in the north-east of Afghanistan and sharing borders with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, Balkh province hosts ethnically diverse populations, and power in the province has historically rested with non-Pashtun communities, particularly Tajiks and Uzbeks.
'Eolika, a Guyana-flagged cargo vessel, had already been detained in the port of Senegalese capital, Dakar due to 'inconsistent' declarations. Authorities in the West African nation then searched the ship, seizing three containers of Italian manufactured ammunition worth an estimated US$5 million. According to initial accounts, port authorities in La Spezia authorised the shipment, which was reportedly headed to the Dominican Republic.
'Discussions on new dynamics and approaches to consider at the multilateral and national levels for tackling the illicit small arms trade should unfold in parallel as new challenges emerge. This blog post gives an overview of the main points raised during the high-level panel in the eleventh session of the Small Arms Survey 2020 online forum ‘Taking stock of action on the illicit small arms trade’.
'The League of Arab States (LAS), INTERPOL, the Small Arms Survey, and the World Customs Organization (WCO) — supported by the EU — are working together on a joint project to combat the illicit trade in, and proliferation of, small arms and light weapons in LAS Member States.
'In July 2001, United Nations (UN) member states adopted by consensus the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA). It is a UN instrument that outlines measures to be taken to regulate small arms throughout their life cycle in order to prevent their diversion to the illicit small arms trade, and improve the detection of illicit small arms and subsequently remove them from circulation.
A significant reduction in the trafficking of illicit arms is one of the targets being proposed as part of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the new development framework to come into effect after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
In 2013, the Small Arms Survey estimated that there are around 440,000 civilian firearms in circulation in Nepal, only 55,000 of which are legally registered. The availability of firearms in the country is moderate by international standards, but the concentration of small arms in the hands of criminal groups poses a threat to law and order that has yet to be fully assessed and addressed.