The illicit proliferation and misuse of weapons, including small arms and light weapons (SALW), and ammunition continues to fuel insecurity, armed conflict and violence, and impedes sustainable development in many parts of the world, including in the African region. The UN Secretary-General’s New Agenda for Peace encourages Member States to strengthen, develop and implement regional, sub‑regional and national instruments and to use a whole‑of‑government approach to address the threat posed by the diversion, illicit proliferation and misuse of SALW and ammunition in order to reduce armed conflict, violence, terrorism and crime. Effective weapons and ammunition management (WAM) helps to achieve this goal, providing for national through‑life oversight, accountability and governance of such materiel.
This fully virtual side event organized on the margins of the UN General Assembly First Committee provides an opportunity to discuss the role of WAM baseline assessments in identifying and addressing gaps in national life‑cycle management of conventional arms and ammunition, and to situate these efforts within ongoing First Committee or related discussions on preventing diversion and strengthening implementation. It is an opportunity to highlight challenges and examples of progress across Africa for preventing the diversion, proliferation and misuse of SALW, as well as risks posed by ammunition. It will also feature the launch of UNIDIR’s WAM Annual Update 2025 and spotlight perspectives and experiences with nationally and regionally led WAM baseline assessments and implementation.
Agenda
Welcome remarks: Outi Hyvärinen, Director for Arms Control, Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Panellists
- Abayomi Adeomi, Program Officer, Arms Control Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security, ECOWAS Commission
- Joseph M. Conteh, Programme Officer, Sierra Leone Commission on Arms and Ammunition, Office of the President, Sierra Leone
- Ebrima D. Savage, Secretary Executive of the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons, Ministry of Interior, the Gambia
- Theo Bajon, Associate Researcher, Conventional Arms and Ammunition Programme, UNIDIR
Moderated by: Paula Soumaya Domit, Conventional Arms and Ammunition Programme, and Hardy Giezendanner, Conventional Arms and Ammunition Programme, UNIDIR
When and where
Monday, 27 October 2025, 13:00-14:15 CET Geneva) or 08:00-09:15 EDT (New York), online via Zoom.
For online participants, connection details to be provided upon registration.
Participants
UNIDIR encourages the participation of representatives and experts from States, regional organizations, UN, NGOs, civil society, and academia who are engaged in or following First Committee deliberations on conventional arms control, SALW, ammunition, as well as related transparency and implementation issues.
Language
Kindly note that the event will be conducted in English, and no interpretation into other UN languages will be available.
In collaboration with
