Next week, States will gather in New York for the ninth Biennial Meeting of States (BMS9) to the United Nations Programme of Action (UN PoA) on small arms and light weapons (SALW). The UN PoA is a global framework through which States agree to address the illicit trade in small arms – including firearms – by improving national regulations, strengthening stockpile management, ensuring that weapons are properly marked and improving cooperation in weapons tracing.
This year’s meeting comes at a time of rising global insecurity and escalating armed violence around the world, with women and girls particularly affected. The effects are visible across a wide range of national contexts.
Each year, around 50,000 women and girls are killed by intimate partners or family members, accounting for more than half of all female homicides.
These deaths rarely occur without warning, they are the culmination of long cycles of abuse, threats and coercion, often involving firearms. Where firearms are present, violence is more likely to escalate in severity, to involve sustained coercive control and to end in death.
Research conducted in Mexico illustrates this stark trend, with firearm-related murders of women surging by 375% from 2004 to 2024. This reflects the increasing accessibility of firearms as well as their growing lethality in domestic and community settings.
Gender matters in the UN PoA
The UN PoA matters for efforts to prevent gender-based violence committed by firearms. From the outset, the UN PoA has acknowledged that the illicit proliferation of SALW affects both women and men. Over time, successive Biennial Meetings of States have sharpened this understanding, recognizing the differentiated impacts of illicit SALW on women, men, boys and girls.
This progress was significantly strengthened at the Third Review Conference in 2018, where States explicitly linked the illicit trade in SALW to gender-based violence and human rights violations. But it was the Fourth Review Conference, in 2024, which marked the most significant step forward to date.
There, States committed to go beyond recognition of differential impacts by addressing the gender roles, norms and expectations that shape how women and men acquire illicit arms. They also emphasized the importance of encouraging the participation of men and boys in the mainstreaming of gender perspectives within SALW policies and programmes.
For the first time, Member States also recognized that violence linked to the illicit proliferation of SALW is more than just a security issue, as there a range of complex links between armed violence and the physical and mental health of women, men, girls and boys.
Reporting trends suggest that these commitments have gained traction. In 2025, 74% of States reporting under the PoA indicated that they integrate gender considerations into national arms control efforts – up 62% from the previous year. However, gaps remain.
In 2025, only 29% of States reported that they collect gender-disaggregated data. This is essential in designing effective responses that reflect the distinct risks, needs and experiences of women, men, girls and boys.
New technology, old problems
At the Fourth Review Conference, States established the Open-Ended Technical Expert Group (OETEG) to examine developments in the manufacturing, technology and design of SALW – including polymer weapons, modular systems and illicit 3D printing of firearms. While gender is not explicitly included in this mandate, it remains highly relevant.
Emerging evidence suggests that some parts of the 3D-printed gun community overlap with hypermasculine and misogynistic online cultures. These dynamics sometimes translate into real-world violence.
A gender perspective can therefore strengthen the OETEG’s work by addressing critical questions: who is manufacturing and acquiring these weapons, who is affected by new forms of diversion, and who is excluded from technical decision-making?
It also helps ensure that tools for tracing, marking and recovery reflect the differentiated impacts of SALW, including patterns linked to intimate partner violence, femicide and conflict-related sexual violence.
These are not abstract concerns. They are practical questions central to whether technical work under the UN PoA can inform national implementation measures that are both technically sound and genuinely responsive to real-world patterns of armed violence, diversion and gendered harm.
From words to action
The task at BMS9 is straightforward but consequential: to hold on to what states have already agreed and to ensure that these commitments remain central as implementation moves into new areas, including those covered by the OETEG.
To that end, States gathering in New York should consider four key steps:
- Reaffirm their commitments on gender mainstreaming and ensure gender-responsive approaches are integrated into the implementation of the PoA, including in national laws, action plans and operational practices.
- Improve disaggregation by sex, gender, age and disability in data collection and analysis to enable a clearer understanding of how small arms are involved in different forms of violence, including intimate partner violence and conflict-related sexual violence. A stronger evidence base favours better-targeted and more effective responses.
- Collaborate with experts and civil society networks on further understanding and addressing gender norms, especially masculinities that shape the acquisition and use of weapons, including 3D printed firearms.
- Promote gender balance and the meaningful participation of women, gender experts and civil society at BMS9 and within expert groups like OETEG.
States attending BMS9 should focus on ensuring that these commitments are not treated as peripheral or optional. Instead, they need to be translated into concrete national measures, better data, inclusive decision-making and sustained political attention as the small arms landscape continues to evolve.
