ABSTRACT
Issues relating to the illicit or licit manufacture, use and trafficking of firearms start as a national matter for individual Sovereign States. These issues however, and the criminal and other activities related to them, are international and/or transnational and therefore addressing these issues requires global and transnational solutions. These solutions require cooperation between Sovereign States that transcend national borders; therefore it is necessary to discuss what Sovereignty means. The values that are threatened by the unregulated firearms and small arms and light weapons (SALW) also require a global action.
As long as traffickers have safe havens, they will have an incentive to continue illicit activities. Addressing the issue at both the national and international levels is the only possible answer to this global threat.
This chapter will consider the provisions of the different ways in which states can, and do, cooperate in the field of firearms crime, whether it is a legislative body (e.g. UNTOC) or policy body (e.g. UNODC).
