The second Regional Meeting for parliamentarians from the MENA region was organized by the Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons and hosted by the Council of Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Parliament, and the European Technology and Training Centre, on 27-28 May, 2012 in Erbil, Iraq. This regional meeting brought together parliamentarians from Iraq, Jordan, Kurdistan, Morocco, Palestine and Sweden. Delegates discussed the challenges posed by illicit SALW within the region, the complexity of SALW proliferation and its impact on democratic development. Particular topics addressed included the breakdown of state and security institutions, the consequences of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the revolution in Libya, ineffective stockpile management of arms and ammunition, governments providing arms to non-state actors, and unsatisfactory border controls. Delegates reaffirmed the declaration from the first MENA meeting of the Parliamentary Forum, in cooperation with the House of Representatives of Cyprus, held in February 2011 and recognize that many of the recommendations await implementation.