Madariaga - College of Europe Foundation

This two-day event on “Conflict Prevention and the fight against illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons” was the second event organised intthe framework of the cycle of    conferences “Conflict Prevention in Practice”, which aims at consolidating a community of conflict prevention, enhancing international cooperation and targeting issues being high on the conflict prevention agenda.

The event is organised by the Madariaga – College of Europe Foundation and the Folke Bernadotte Academy, with the support of the French Presidency of the European Union and in close cooperation with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, and the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO).

 Workshop Report    Dialogue Forum Report  

Programme

The workshop tackled one of the biggest spoilers of peace and stability: the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons (SALW). The main purpose of the event was therefore to present and discuss policy options and practices, in order to strengthen the efforts by the European Union and other actors to prevent violent conflicts by reducing the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons.

The first day provided a global overview of the issue, drawing broader lessons from the case study of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The discussion focused on existing international and European commitments, their implementation and the practical mechanisms available to reduce the illicit trade of arms. Three years after the adoption of the “EU Strategy to combat illicit accumulation and trafficking of SALW” (EU Strategy) and its Action Plan, due consideration will be given to the question of how to improve the action on the basis of already existing tools and binding agreements at UN and EU levels. The seminar also focused on the concrete implementation of the EU Strategy, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Community policies and instruments.

While one of the objectives of the initiative is to develop a cross cutting approach on the issue, different dimensions have been covered: trade, export control, air traffic control, links with organised crime.

On Friday 17 October a restricted Dialogue Forum was organised to focus on the implementation of the topic in the Africa continent, the main geographical priority of the EU Strategy. This Dialogue Forum gathered senior representatives from inter alia the EU/EC, the Afrian Union, RECSA, UNDP, Eu Member States and other organisations playint a key role in this field in order to share views, experiences and best practice with the view to enhancing international cooperation in the field and launching an international dialogue process.

 Workshop Report

 Dialogue Forum Report

Speeches:

Key statements: how canthe fight against arms trafficking prevent conflict?

Annalisa Giannella, Personnal Representative of the High Representative if the european Union non-proliferation of WMD, General Secretariat of the Council of the EU

Richard Wright, Director Crisis Platform, Policy Coordination in Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), Directorate General external Relations, European Commission

Second Panel: existing european tools to control arms exports

Angus Uquhart, Saferworld. The presentation is based upon the policy brief "Good Conduct?  Ten Years of the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Export".

Owen Greene, Researcher, University of Bradford/CICS

Damien Helly, Researcher, Institute for Security studies of the European Union (ISS) 

Third Panel: international cooperation to combat illicit trafficking, the way ahead

Patrice Bouveret, International Platform "Contrôlez les armes"

Contact Informations:

Maddalena Malgarini
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - Tel: 0032 (0)2 209 2667 and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - Tel: 0032 (0)2 209 62 10

Note de Presentation en Français

 Presentation Note in English