3 June 2026 – On the margins of the 35th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), the United Nations Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region (UN-OSESG-GL), in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), convened a side event on reducing the human cost of weapons in Africa through policy support, capacity-building, security cooperation and technical assistance in Weapons and Ammunition Management (WAM). Around 40 participants from UNODC, UN-OSESG-GL, AU, RESCA, China permanent mission to Vienna, project related Member states attended this event.
Opening the event, Ms. Simonetta Grassi, Chief of UNODC’s Firearms Trafficking Section, and Mr. Dohotie Coulibaly, Security Cooperation Programme Officer at UN-OSESG-GL, emphasized that addressing the spread of illicit firearms requires more than technical measures alone. They stressed the importance of sustained political commitment, effective legal frameworks, stronger regional coordination and practical cooperation among governments, regional organizations and international partners.
The event also featured the presentation of the pilot initiative “Reducing the Human Cost of Weapons in Africa,” led by UN-OSESG-GL with the support of the United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund. Presented by Ms. Xinyue Cao, Project Manager for SALW-DDR at UN-OSESG-GL, the initiative aims to strengthen Weapons and Ammunition Management within Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) processes in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
Mr. Abdou Hamani, Regional Coordinator of UNODC’s Firearms Trafficking Section, presented UNODC’s work to strengthen national firearms-control frameworks in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He outlined ongoing support for legislative reform, institutional coordination, firearms marking, record-keeping, tracing capacities, stockpile management, and law enforcement and criminal justice responses to illicit firearms trafficking and related crimes.
A panel discussion brought together representatives from the African Union, RECSA and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to share continental, regional and national perspectives on reducing the spread of small arms and light weapons. Colonel Sheku TejanSesay highlighted the link with the African Union’s Silencing the Guns agenda, Mr. Eric Kayiranga emphasized RECSA’s role in supporting regional cooperation and practical implementation, and Mr. Landry Tshilombo shared the DRC’s experience in strengthening arms-control measures, including legislative reform, weapons marking, registries and stockpile management.
