Analysis of Survey on the Inclusion of Women and Civil Society in National Coordinating Mechanisms on Small Arms (2019)

The first clause of the United Nations Programme of Action (UNPoA) on small arms and light weapons (SALW) calls for the establishment of “effective laws, regulations, and administrative procedures to exercise control over the production of small arms and light weapons” at a national scale. In an effort to bolster this and the implementation of the UN PoA as a whole, the International Network on Small Arms (IANSA), in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) is conducting research on national mechanisms and institutions in place to oversee transfer and circulation of SALW in all its aspects.

As part of this research, IANSA sent out a survey to member states of the UN PoA inquiring about their national mechanisms for SALW as well as measures taken to include civil society and women within these respective bodies. The 13-point survey includes questions on the different types of national coordination mechanisms in place and the extent of its functions. Most notably, the survey focuses on the existence of policy coordination, the frequency with which the national body in question is convened, and the inclusion of civil society and women. Between April 2019 and November 2019, the survey was sent to 163 member states with designated national points of contact available in the UNODA database, out of 193 in total. As of December 2019, IANSA had received 28 responses to its survey. The responses, though few in number, came from all five major regions of the world: Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe and the Americas. This brief report contains an analysis of the responses by region. The accuracy of the analysis is dependent upon the information provided by the countries that responded.