The United Nations General Assembly calls on Member States to submit reports to the Secretary-General on the progress of their implementation of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA). In order to assist states to better fulfil their commitments, UNDP, UNIDIR and UNDDA, in collaboration with the Small Arms Survey, have carried out a joint project, which assesses the information contained in the national reports for the year 2003, the results of which are made available in the present study.
Overall the findings are encouraging. 103 out of 191 Member States submitted annual reports. Moreover, notable progress has been made in the implementation of the PoA, especially in the areas of national legislation, weapons collection and destruction, and public awareness; and regional and international cooperation aimed at combating the spread of small arms and light weapons is growing. These welcome results should encourage states to carry their efforts even further. A full complement of recommendations on how this could be accomplished, both in terms of PoA implementation and reporting, is presented throughout the study.
Citation: Elli Kytömäki and Valerie Yankey-Wayne (2004). "Implementing the United Nations Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons: Analysis of the Reports Submitted by States in 2003", UNIDIR, Geneva.