The Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nenad Nešić, pointed out that at the London Summit, that Bosnia and Herzegovina expressed a clear political commitment to strengthen the control of small arms and light weapons in Southeastern Europe. He said that as a continent it shares the same challenges and must also share a common future in the European Union.
He leads the BiH delegation at the Ministerial Conference in Brussels on the suppression of firearms trade in Southeastern Europe.
At the conference, it was pointed out that organized crime, especially arms smuggling, represents a global security threat that is constantly expanding.
He emphasized that it is evident that at this moment, in addition to the migrant crisis, arms smuggling represents one of the biggest security challenges.
He reminded that the previous activities carried out by Bosnia and Herzegovina in this area, especially the harmonization of the law on weapons, 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 Bosnia and Herzegovina were educated about the dangers related to the misuse of weapons.
Minister Nešić added that the control and surveillance of the state border is also a very important issue, where the capacities of police agencies to prevent illegal arms trade have been strengthened in the past period.
“We appreciate that we have achieved quite good results in the past period, but we face new challenges. It is necessary to provide additional support in the areas related to the issues of weapon deactivation, establishment of a focal point for firearms, capacity building and cooperation of police and judicial bodies in solving criminal offenses of misuse of firearms as well as strengthening ballistic capacities,” said Nešić.
Today, Nešić also attended a joint lunch with Commissioner Johansson, announced the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
