Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Nenad Nesic heads the BiH delegation at the Ministerial Conference in Brussels on the fight against firearms trafficking in Southeast Europe.
At the conference attended by the Vice-President of the European Commission and the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs, Ylva Johansson, it was pointed out that organized crime, and especially arms trafficking, represents a global security threat that is constantly expanding.
Nesic pointed out that at the London Summit, BiH expressed a clear political commitment to strengthening the control of small arms and light weapons in Southeast Europe. He said that as a continent we share the same challenges and that we must share a common future in the EU.
Moreover, he emphasized that it is evident that at this moment, in addition to the migrant crisis, arms trafficking represents one of the biggest security challenges.
Nesic also recalled that the previous activities carried out by BiH in this area, especially the harmonization of the law on weapons, and the improvement of the security of weapons warehouses, and that in the past four years, about 25.000 pieces and parts of weapons were collected and destroyed, which represents a significant increase compared to the previous period. Also, 18.300 students from 130 schools throughout BiH were educated about the dangers related to the misuse of weapons.
Furthermore, Nesic stated that the control and supervision of the state border is also a very important issue, where the capacities of police agencies to prevent illegal arms trafficking have been strengthened in the past period.
“We appreciate that we have achieved quite good results in the past period, but we have new challenges ahead of us. It is necessary to provide additional support in areas related to the issues of weapon deactivation, the establishment of a focal point for firearms, strengthening of capacities and cooperation of police and judicial bodies in solving criminal offenses of misuse of firearms, as well as strengthening ballistic capacities,” Nesic emphasized, the BiH Ministry of Security announced.
E.Dz.
