Council Decision 2011/428/CFSP of 18 July 2011 in support of United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs activities to implement the United Nations Programme of Actions to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects

19.7.2011 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 188/37
COUNCIL DECISION 2011/428/CFSP
of 18 July 2011
in support of United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs activities to implement the United Nations Programme of Actions to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Article 26(2) and Article 31(1) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) On 20 July 2001, the States participating in the ad-hoc Conference adopted the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (the Programme of Action). On 8 December 2005, the United Nations General Assembly adopted an International Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons (International Tracing Instrument). Both these international instruments declare that States will cooperate, as appropriate, with the United Nations to support their effective implementation.
(2) The 2008 Third Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action noted in its final report the importance of regional approaches to the implementation of the Programme of Action and the usefulness, therefore, of convening regional meetings sponsored by interested States and international, regional and sub-regional organisations in a position to do so. The final report also encouraged States to support and make full use of existing mechanisms that support the implementation of the Programme of Action and the matching of needs with resources, such as the Programme of Action Implementation Support System.
(3) On 15-16 December 2005, the European Council adopted the EU Strategy to combat the illicit accumulation and trafficking of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and their ammunition (the EU SALW Strategy). The EU SALW Strategy identifies support for the UN Programme of Action as the first priority for action at international level, and calls for the adoption of a legally binding international instrument on the tracing and marking of SALW and ammunition.
(4) Following the adoption of the international tracing instrument, the European Union supported its full implementation through the adoption and implementation of Council Joint Action 2008/113/CFSP of 12 February 2008 in support of the International Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) (1). The implementation of that Joint Action was positively assessed by the Council of the European Union.
(5) On 2 December 2009, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/64/50 on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects which encourages all initiatives, including those of international, regional and sub-regional organisations, for the successful implementation of the Programme of Action and emphasises that initiatives by the international community with respect to international cooperation and assistance remain essential and complementary to national implementation efforts.
(6) Resolution A/RES/64/50 also provided that the fourth biennial meeting of States to consider the national, regional and global implementation of the Programme of Action should be held in New York from 14 to 18 June 2010, and that a conference to review progress made in implementation of the Programme of Action will be convened for a period of 2 weeks in New York, no later than in 2012.
(7) Also on 2 December 2009, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/64/51 on Problems arising from the accumulation of conventional ammunition stockpiles in surplus, which encourages States in a position to do so to contribute to the development within the United Nations of technical guidelines for the stockpile management of conventional ammunition, in order to assist States in improving their national stockpile management capacity, preventing the growth of conventional ammunition surpluses,