Attachments
FOR A SAFER KOSOVO!
There is an inextricable link between peace and development, and looking around us, I believe we can observe that peaceful societies, with a strong societal feeling of safety and security as well as confidence in rule of law, have the best conditions to sustain social and economic progress over time. And for the first time, the Global Goals of Agenda 2030 acknowledges the link between arms regulation and development as well as between illicit trafficking in arms and organized crime. In fact, under Goal 16 – the goal which focuses on promoting peaceful societies and access to justice, includes a significant reduction in illicit arms flows as one of its targets. This is built on the understanding that arms regulation and development are mutually reinforcing undertakings that contribute to a reduction in armed violence levels.
It has been 10 years since we, at UNDP, began to support the central and local institutions in making Kosovo a safer place for everyone by strengthening small arms control and the results of our flagship projects that involve people, processes and technologies, described in more detail in this booklet, speak for themselves.
Tailoring global approaches to Kosovo’s context, we initially supported the drafting of the strategic, legislative and regulatory framework and established processes in the field of Small Arms and Light Weapons control. The same approach was extended to other security related areas such as civilian use of explosives and oversight over private security services, police and other authorized security institutions, as well as to community policing, intelligence led policing, protection of critical infrastructure, crime prevention, school safety and more recently in the field of prevention of violent extremism and cyber security.
In addition to strengthening the legislative and policy frameworks, our partnerships and interventions also included individual capacity development of police officers, civil servants and local communities and individuals to make sure we built the conditions for sustaining the results achieved. In fact, our joint approach contributed in developing best practices in the region, such as the Firearm Focal Point System, which currently is considered as a best practice in the Western Balkans region and beyond.
Our partnership has also supported the establishment of the Department of Public Safety in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This department is one of the main actors, together with the Kosovo Police, that ensures public safety for everyone in Kosovo.
It goes without saying that our international partners, who generously funded this project throughout the years, are close associates of these achievements.
I would like to thank the Kosovo Police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Kosovo Forensic Agency, Mayors and community representatives for their splendid cooperation and dedication.
We stand ready to continue working together for a safer Kosovo!
ULRIKA RICHARDSON,
UN DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR
UNDP RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE