Publications

The Best Practice Guide on Deactivation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) suggests minimum standards, approaches and procedures to ensure the permanent deactivation of SALW, and provides recommendations on how to incorporate these into national norms and legislation. The Guide details concrete measures for the participating States to take in marking and record-keeping of weapons and also puts forward technical specifications for the deactivation of SALW. It also contributes to the OSCE efforts in preventing diversion of SALW in the OSCE area and beyond. First adopted in 2018, the Guide has been reviewed and updated to ensure that it remains relevant and applicable. In recognition of the importance of ensuring irreversible SALW deactivation, the OSCE minimum standards have been strengthened by a number of technical updates for rendering SALW and their essential parts permanently inoperable.

The OSCE’s 57 participating States have developed the world’s most advanced regime of arms control, disarmament and confidence- and security-building measures. The Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) is the key OSCE platform that supports this work and where the States cooperate for greater openness and transparency to increase military security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian areas.

The paper provides an analysis of OSCE participant States responses to the voluntary reporting on Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) through the annual information exchange on the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security. It provides a better understanding on the scope and impact of PMSCs in the OSCE area and identifies ways to foster a thoughtful dialogue among participating States on the nature and regulation of PMSCs.

Small arms and light weapons and stockpiles of conventional ammunition can pose a serious threat to societies. The OSCE works with the organization’s 57 participating States to mitigate these risks.

This commemorative study is about history, development, achievements and outreach of the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security – the OSCE’s key document for the democratic control of the armed and security forces. The purpose of the study is to raise awareness of the Code and improve its implementation and outreach. It is intended for the general public including the media, NGOs, and in particular parliamentarians, practitioners, experts and academics dealing with the Code in all its aspects.

This report is structured in four main parts. The first part outlines the methodology and approach taken for this study. The second part details the analysis and main findings in the obligatory reports of participating States, while part three comments briefly on findings in the voluntary reports on Women, Peace and Security. Part four covers the recommendations on the current reporting, as well as recommendations on the Questionnaire and the Reference Guide should there be a decision to revise these documents in the future.

This publication describes the humanitarian and environmental risks posed by melange and samin, notes the appropriate storage and handling aspects and highlights various elimination methodologies. This Overview consolidates the most suitable practices of liquid rocket fuel components' elimination experienced in the last 15 years to provide the OSCE participating States with information and analyses for developing policies and for designing general guidelines and procedures for the elimination of their unusable or surplus liquid rocket fuel components- mainly melange and samin- and to encourage concerned participating States to apply for OSCE international financial and/or technical support for the elimination of their rocket fuel components.

The Handbook of Best Practices on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) is a set of guidelines developed by the Forum for Security and Co-operation to help cut down the amount of illegally-held weaponry in circulation. The Handbook is one of the most comprehensive manuals to-date on SALW that provides a set of best practice guides relating to all stages of a gun's life, starting with manufacture and finishing with destruction and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration.

Informational leaflet on the Handbook of best practices on small arms and light weapons