Meeting to Review OSCE Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons, Vienna, 22-23 September 2009
When
The OSCE will hold a Meeting to Review the Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons and its Supplementary Decisions on 22-23 September 2009. The venue will be the Neuer Saal at the Hofburg Congress Centre in Vienna.
Many major producers of SALW are located in the OSCE area. The end of the Cold War left large stocks of surplus SALW and conventional ammunition on the territories of many OSCE participating States. To ensure that such weapons are not diverted from the legal market, the production, transfer and stockpiling of SALW, as well as the proper disposal of surpluses, must be secured.
The precarious conditions in which a number of these stockpiles are held continue to present serious security and environmental risks. In this context, eight years following the adoption of the OSCE Document on SALW, the 56 OSCE participating States have decided to review existing commitments and to explore possible further action.
The meeting will bring together experts from the OSCE participating States as well as representatives from international organizations and think tanks dealing with SALW. It will be chaired by the United Kingdom, which will assume the Chairmanship of the Forum for Security Co-operation on 4 September.