From 5 to 6 February 2019, UNODC, through its Global Firearms Programme and its Research and Trend Analysis Branch, organized the fifth regional meeting on firearms data collection and analysis in Vienna, Austria. After previous meetings for African, Latin American, European and Western Balkan countries, this fifth meeting targeted countries of the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA).

The meeting aimed at facilitating and promoting participation in the global firearms data initiative through the Illicit Arms Flows Questionnaire (IAFQ), identifying firearms data collection practices and challenges of target countries, and fostering the exchange of information on firearms trafficking among participating countries.

It brought together 17 representatives, experts and National Focal Points for the Illicit Arms Flows Questionnaire from 9 countries of the MENA region, including Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia and was also attended by a representative of the League of Arab States. The meeting was further supported by experts from Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, UNODC, the European Union, as well as Conflict Armament Research and the Small Arms Survey.