News

02/05/2008

High-level roundtable on arms control in Bangladesh

In April, in Dhaka, Saferworld and the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) organised a high-level round table with senior officials from the Government of Bangladesh on the subject of small arms control.

Reflecting the cross-cutting nature of the issue, participants were drawn from eight government ministries as well as the Bangladesh Police, the Army and Navy Rapid Action Battalion, the Customs and Narcotic Control departments, the Bangladesh Rifles, Village Defence Force and National Security Intelligence service.

BIISS opened with a presentation of the Bangladesh perspective on small arms before Saferworld gave a global perspective. The illegal use and trafficking of small arms were identified as key concerns in Bangladesh and many important issues were raised in the discussion that followed for the rest of the day, not least the possibility of establishing an inter-ministerial working group to look further at arms control.

“The roundtable was a positive step forward in creating dialogue on Bangladesh’s small arms issues between all the relevant government ministries and agencies,” said Rosy Cave, head of Saferworld’s Asia programme.

Other issues raised by the roundtable:

• Policy initiatives on small arms control must ensure that human and drug trafficking are also taken into consideration.

• Steps need to be taken to fill the gaps in data on small arms in Bangladesh.

• Regional cooperation is needed to tackle trafficking.

• Children should learn about small arms issues in school.

Find out more about our work in Bangladesh

Find out more about our work on small arms and light weapons  

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