Western Balkans towards stopping illegal firearms trafficking

Thanks to the continuation of the initiative, in the framework of the Berlin Process, for the disarmament of the populations of the six Western Balkan countries (WB) by these types of weapons, led by Germany and France, the year 2022 is expected to bring BP closer to its transformation. in a safe region, where the trade and trafficking of small arms and light weapons is prevented. The initiative in question in January 2022 enters the fourth year of its implementation. It aims that by 2024, BP will have a legislature, jurisdiction and administrative and institutional capacity in full compliance with the European Union (EU) regulatory framework for the control of small arms and light weapons, possession, misuse and their illegal traffic. According to data from SEESAC, (South Eastern Europe and Eastern Europe Clearing House for the Control of Small and Light Weapons – Office for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe) based in Belgrade, in 2018 , when the implementation of this initiative began, in the hands of the civilian population in the BP countries there were 4-6 million such weapons, held illegally. In other words 1/3 of the population of 18 million in BP owned small arms and light firearms that they held illegally! Such an amount of illegal firearms in the hands of the civilian population has fueled the public perception in EU member states of BP as a region with a problematic security or arms trafficking towards them, which has not been and is not in favor of efforts of the region to change the situation and thus come closer to the EU.

Achievements and challenges

Bojana Balon, Executive Director of SEESAC, in an online interview for DW, on the progress of the initiative so far notes that the six BP countries are implementing the “Roadmap for a sustainable arms control solution by 2024,” drafted by the BP authorities, under the auspices of Germany and France, in consultation with other important actors. This roadmap, she points out, is also included in the EU Action Plan against Firearms Trafficking, 2020-2025. In the 6 countries of BP, in the period 2018-2020, 14,747 firearms, 409,074 pieces of ammunition were seized, 25,571 firearms were destroyed and 2,612,331 tons of ammunition. “Within the same period, 117,196 firearms, 52,880 pieces of ammunition were reported voluntarily surrendered, 4,108 firearms were legalized and 1,293 were deactivated,” Bojana Balon told DW. Still, disarming civilian populations in BP remains unfinished business, a challenge to be won. Murder, suicide, wounding, armed robbery caused by small arms and light firearms that the civilian population illegally possesses are present in all six BP countries. “The SEESAC Platform for Monitoring Armed Violence reveals that in 2020, in the Western Balkans, more than 2,700 firearm incidents were registered, of which about 42% were related to confiscation of weapons. 500 incidents related to criminal activity have been recorded, including armed robbery and organized crime. Incidents, related to firearms, in BP, in 2020, resulted in 145 deaths, 59 suicides, 436 threatened persons and 369 injured persons. “Women make up 20 percent of the victims and 2 percent of the perpetrators,” Bojana Balon told DW.

New ways of trafficking

The use of weapons originating from BP in the terrorist attack, in the concert hall at the Bataclan Theater in 2015 in Paris stigmatized the region as a space for illegal arms trafficking. Is there any evidence that six years after the tragic event in Bataclan BP trafficked illegal weapons? “We do not have data on arms trafficking from BP countries. “The only data we have available that can show, to some extent, the illegal circulation of weapons beyond the borders of BP, is the number of weapons seized,” Bojana Balon told DW. The Minister of Interior of Albania, Bledi Çuçi, says for DW that in changing for the better the situation regarding the prevention of trafficking in illegal firearms and addressing the challenges of the region and the EU, an important help has been given by the cooperation with FRONTEX, (Agency of the EU Border and Coast Guard). FRONTEX provides important support in preventing arms trafficking through the postal service, colipostas departing from Albania and other BP countries to EU countries or those entering from Europe in the region. Weapon technology is evolving rapidly. “The small and light firearms that criminal groups try to traffic through the colipostas are of the technologies of the time”, says for DW, the Minister of Interior Çuçi.

In Albania, FRONTEX deployed the first joint operation in the territory of a country outside the EU. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia and Serbia have also signed cooperation agreements with FRONTEX. Disarmament of populations and BP rapprochement with the EU. Interior Minister Bledi Çuçi tells DW that in relation to the EU, the disarmament of the civilian population from illegal weapons is treated as a regional issue, which “is related to integration, with the region coming closer to the EU and its entry into the EU.” “This issue is being treated as a regional contract. We are in sync with EU requirements. Every step is done with the vision of a whole region. “Statistics on the current situation are collected by the EU, analyzed and formulated at the regional level”, says for DW, the Minister of Interior of Albania. In this context, Bojana Balon noted that “by 2024, weapons control policies and practices in the Western Balkans must be based on facts, illegal flows of firearms, ammunition and explosives inside and outside the Western Balkans, and arms misuse. should be significantly reduced through awareness raising, education, outreach and advocacy ”. She considers it an important challenge to achieve the harmonization of the legislation of the WB countries with that of the EU regarding the warning signs of explosives. “This is a very complex area given the number of stakeholders that need to be involved as well as the capacities that need to be built. So far none of the six BP countries have jurisdiction over explosive control signs. “Filling this gap will be the main focus in the next two years,” Bojana Balon told DW. In the statement of the EU-BP summit in Brdo, Slovenia, held in October 2021, the leaders of the EU member states pledged that “the EU will continue to support BP in preventing the illegal trade and trafficking of small arms and ammunition of them ”.

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