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Introduction

This document highlights the main outcomes of the United Nations conference held in June 2018 to review action to prevent the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. The conference was convened under the auspices of the UN General Assembly. It was the third review conference of States to take place since the establishment in 2001 of the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.

The thematic summaries in this document should make it easier for officials and other stakeholders to quickly pinpoint the key commitments made at the conference by the participating States. The outcomes are summarized and organized by topic, and include references to the paragraphs in the official conference report.

The official title of the Conference was “The United Nations Conference to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects”. It was convened by the UN General Assembly and held in New York from 18 to 29 June 2018 under the Presidency of French Ambassador Jean-Claude Brunet. Daniël Prins, Director of Conventional Arms in the Office for Disarmament Affairs, served as the Secretary-General of the Conference. The Conference held plenary meetings and informal meetings according to agreed rules of procedure.

The official Report of the Conference was adopted by consensus on 29 June 2018 and is available in six different languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish). The English version of the Report can be found here: http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/CONF.192/2018/RC/3&referer=/english/&Lang=E. The list of participants is contained in document A/CONF.192/2018/RC/INF/3. The documents of the Conference are available from the Conference website: www.un.org/disarmament/revcon3. Included in the Conference Report as an annex is the Outcome Document that contains the substance agreed by the participating States.

The official Outcome Document of the Conference contained in the annex to the Report was adopted by a unanimous vote on 29 June 2018, but only after two paragraphs containing references to ammunition (paragraphs I.16 and I.18), and one dealing with the Sustainable Development Goals (paragraph I.13) were each adopted by overwhelming vote (see references to these paragraphs below). The Outcome Document is divided into five sections. Section I is the 2018 Declaration; Section II is on the implementation of the Programme of Action (PoA) in 2018–2024; Section III is on the implementation of the International Tracing Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons (ITI) in 2018–2024; Section IV is on promoting sustainable international cooperation and assistance; and Section V is on agreements made by States to follow up on the Conference.