The Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 98t The illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects, published in 2012.

What other versions does this mandate have?

25 versions · 2002–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/38

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/38	The illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects	3,126	87%Compare
2024	A/RES/79/40	The illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects	2,994	79%Compare
2023	A/RES/78/46	The illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects	3,046	92%Compare
2022	A/RES/77/71	The illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects	3,138	76%Compare
2021	A/RES/76/232	The illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects	2,905	74%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

18 reports · 2003–2026

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2026	A/81/72	Assistance to States for curbing the illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons and collecting them and the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/80/38
2025	A/80/111	Assistance to States for curbing the illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons and collecting them and the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/79/40
2024	A/79/77	Assistance to States for curbing the illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons and collecting them and the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/78/46
2023	A/78/126	Assistance to States for curbing the illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons and collecting them and the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/77/71
2022	A/77/77	Assistance to States for curbing the illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons and collecting them and the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/76/232

What subjects does this mandate have?

9 subjects

Capacity Building Financial Assistance Illicit Arms Trafficking International Cooperation Participants Periodic Reports Programme Implementation Small Arms Technical Cooperation

What’s in this document?

23 operative paragraphs

Underlines the fact that the issue of the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects requires concerted efforts at the national, regional and international levels to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit manufacture, transfer and circulation of small arms and light weapons, and that their uncontrolled spread in many regions of the world has a wide range of humanitarian and socio-economic consequences and poses a serious threat to peace, reconciliation, safety, security, stability and sustainable development at the individual, local, national, regional and international levels;

Encourages all initiatives, including those of the United Nations, other international organizations, regional and subregional organizations, non-governmental organizations and civil society, for the successful implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects,Error: Reference source not found and calls upon all Member States to contribute towards the continued implementation of the Programme of Action at the national, regional and global levels;

Encourages States to implement the recommendations contained in the report of the Group of Governmental Experts established pursuant to resolution 60/81 to consider further steps to enhance international cooperation in preventing, combating and eradicating illicit brokering in small arms and light weapons;⁵

⁵See A/62/163 and Corr.1.

Recalls its endorsement of the report adopted at the fourth biennial meeting of States to consider the implementation of the Programme of Action,⁶ and encourages all States to implement, as appropriate, the measures highlighted in the section of the report entitled “The way forward”;

⁶See A/CONF.192/BMS/2010/3, sect. IV, para. 23.

Endorses the report adopted at the Open-ended Meeting of Governmental Experts on the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects,⁷ and takes note with appreciation of the Chair’s summary of discussions,⁸ prepared under his own responsibility, reflecting his interpretation of the main points under discussion;

⁷A/CONF.192/MGE/2011/1.

⁸A/66/157, annex.

Decides that, pursuant to resolution 65/64, the second conference to review progress made in the implementation of the Programme of Action will be held in New York, from 27 August to 7 September 2012;

Also decides that the preparatory committee for the review conference will be convened in New York, from 19 to 23 March 2012;

Encourages all efforts to build national capacity for the effective implementation of the Programme of Action, including those highlighted in the report of the fourth biennial meeting of States, and, inter alia, through the strengthening of national coordination agencies or bodies and institutional infrastructure;

Encourages States to submit, on a voluntary basis, national reports on their implementation of the Programme of Action,⁹ notes that States will submit national reports on their implementation of the International Tracing Instrument,¹⁰ in advance of the convening of the preparatory committee but, to the extent possible, by the end of 2011, and encourages those States in a position to do so to use the reporting template made available by the Office for Disarmament Affairs¹¹ and to include therein information, as appropriate, on progress made in the implementation of the measures highlighted in the reports of the third and fourth biennial meetings of States;

⁹See Report of the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, New York, 9–20 July 2001 (A/CONF.192/15), chap. IV (sect. II, para. 33, of the quoted text).

¹⁰See A/60/88 and Corr.2, annex, para. 36.

¹¹Available from www.poa-iss.org/reporting.

Also encourages States, on a voluntary basis, to make increasing use of their national reports as another tool for communicating assistance needs and information on the resources and mechanisms available to address such needs, and encourages States in a position to render such assistance to make use of these national reports;

Encourages States, relevant international and regional organizations and civil society with the capacity to do so to cooperate with and assist other States, upon request, in the preparation of comprehensive reports on their implementation of the Programme of Action;

Calls upon all States to implement the International Tracing Instrument by, inter alia, including in their national reports the name and contact information of the national points of contact and information on national marking practices used to indicate country of manufacture and/or country of import, as applicable;

Recognizes the urgent need to maintain and enhance national controls, in accordance with the Programme of Action, to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, including their diversion to unauthorized recipients, taking into account, inter alia, their adverse humanitarian and socio-economic consequences on the affected States;

Invites States, at the second review conference, to review progress made in the implementation of the Programme of Action, and, subject to the agenda of the conference to be agreed by the preparatory committee, encourages them to explore ways to strengthen its implementation, including consideration of the possibility of convening a further open-ended meeting of governmental experts;

Encourages States in a position to do so to provide financial assistance, through a voluntary sponsorship fund, that could be distributed, upon request, to States otherwise unable to participate in meetings on the Programme of Action;

Encourages interested States and relevant international and regional organizations in a position to do so to convene regional meetings to consider and advance the implementation of the Programme of Action, as well as the International Tracing Instrument, in preparation for the meetings on the Programme of Action;

Emphasizes the fact that initiatives by the international community with respect to international cooperation and assistance remain essential and complementary to national implementation efforts, as well as to those at the regional and global levels;

Encourages States to consider ways to enhance cooperation and assistance and to assess their effectiveness in order to ensure the implementation of the Programme of Action;

Recognizes the necessity for interested States to develop effective coordination mechanisms, where they do not exist, in order to match the needs of States with existing resources to enhance the implementation of the Programme of Action and to make international cooperation and assistance more effective, and in this regard encourages States to make use, as appropriate, of the Programme of Action Implementation Support System;

Encourages States to consider, among other mechanisms, the coherent identification of needs, priorities, national plans and programmes that may require international cooperation and assistance from States and regional and international organizations in a position to do so;

Encourages civil society and relevant organizations to strengthen their cooperation and work with States at the respective national and regional levels to achieve the implementation of the Programme of Action;

Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session on the implementation of the present resolution;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its sixty-seventh session the item entitled “The illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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