ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan

On October 11-14, UNRCCA, in cooperation with the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) held a national consultative meeting with official representatives from security and law enforcement agencies of Turkmenistan on preventing and combating the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and their illicit supply to terrorists.

The consultations were organized within the framework of the UNOCT-UNODC project “Addressing the terrorism-arms-crime nexus: Preventing and combatting the illicit trafficking of small-arms and light weapons (SALW) and their illicit supply to terrorists - Supporting the implementation of the Security Council Resolution 2370 (2017) and the Madrid Guiding Principles” and the UNRCCA-UNOCT project “Towards a Comprehensive Implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia”.

The meeting offered participants the opportunity to discuss with national and international counterparts their current capacities in addressing the terrorism-arms crime nexus in order to identify needs to strengthen the national response to prevent and counter firearms trafficking.

An active exchange of information took place on issues such as national legislative and regulatory frameworks on firearms control, related security structures, national strategies and action plans, national and international coordination and cooperation mechanisms, risk-assessments, early warning strategies and data collection.