UNODC Workshop on exchange of good practices and experience in combatting illicit arms trafficking and its links to terrorism and organized crime

05/12/2017
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07/12/2017
Activity description

As part of the ‘Community of Practitioners meetings’ project, this regional workshop on the ‘Exchange of good practices and experience in combatting illicit arms trafficking and its links to Terrorism and Organized Crime, was organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Global Firearms Programme (GFP) in Algiers, Algeria on 5-7 December, 2017. The event was the first of a series of UNODC GFP ‘Community of Practitioners meetings’ and funding was provided by the Government of Germany. The workshop was attended by practitioners from Algeria, Chad, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania and Niger, as well as international and national experts, who presented and shared concrete cases and experiences in the investigation and prosecution of firearms related criminality. It provided an opportunity for participants to discuss the most common crimes involving the use or illicit trafficking in firearms, in particular their nexus with terrorism cases, to illustrate some of the most recent investigative approaches with regard to the origins, modalities and lines of supply of weapons to terrorists (deactivated arms, trafficking through the internet, converted weapons and use of parcel services of parts and components inter alia). The participants also considered practical measures needed to prevent weapons theft, trafficking and diversion into the hands of terrorist and criminal groups: strengthening legislative regimes on firearms, establishing standard operating procedures for the identification, registration and tracing of seized, found or surrendered weapons and the relevance of specialised hubs to support criminal (parallel) investigations into possible trafficking offenses.

Project description

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Global Firearms Programme’s (GFP) ‘Community of Practitioners meetings’ project, is an initiative aimed at fostering regional and interregional cooperation for effective action against illicit firearms trafficking through regular exchange of information, case-based experiences and good practices among communities of criminal justice and law enforcement practitioners. It seeks to complement and mutually support the elaboration of a ‘Digest of Illicit Firearms Cases’, which would compile and analyse practical experiences, including concrete legal techniques, common protocols and operational norms in combatting these crimes, as well as new and emerging forms of criminality.

Type of Activity
Institutional capacity-building
Legal or legislative assistance
Focus of Activity
Diversion
Enforcement
International instruments
Marking
Regional cooperation
Small arms and light weapons (SALW) controls
Tracing
Transfer controls
Partners
Algeria
Chad
Mali
Mauritania
Morocco
Niger
Implementers
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Donors
Germany
Budget
EUR
Contact Details

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Vienna International Centre
PO Box 500
A 1400 Vienna
Austria
Telephone: + (43) (1) 26060
Fax: + (43) (1) 263-3389
E-mail: info@unodc.org
Web: https://www.unodc.org/
Firearms Programme: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/firearms-protocol/gfp.html