Five Key Issues for the Seventh Biennial Meeting of States (BMS7) on the UN Programme of Action (PoA) (June 2021)

In preparation for BMS7, the IANSA has chosen to focus its analysis and advocacy on five key issues:

1. The need to include ammunition in the PoA;

2. Implementing and building on the gender outcomes agreed during the 2018 PoA Review Conference (RevCon3);

3. Preventing and combatting diversion (a stated focus area of BMS7);

4. Marking and tracing of SALW;

5. Stockpile management: safety, security, and destruction of surplus and excessive accumulation.

States‘ effective implementation of the PoA at the national level is an important element of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in particular SDG16 target 4 aims to “by 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows (…)”. This speaks directly to the objectives of the PoA and highlights the continued relevance of the PoA. States need to prioritise the implementation of their PoA commitments and strengthen the framework of the PoA during BMS7.

This factsheet provides a brief introduction to each of the five key issues, and their importance to the PoA and the control of the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons (SALW).