The year 2022, which is on the verge, is expected to bring the Western Balkans (WB) closer to its transformation into a safer region, where the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons is banned.

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), led by Germany and France, the year 2022 is expected to bring WB closer to its transformation into 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, WB 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 illicit 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 WB countries there were 4-6 million such weapons, held illegally. In other words 1/3 of the population of 18 million in WB 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 WB 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.

/Klara Ruci/