Statement by Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the United Nations Samuel Žbogar at the UNSC meeting on the Report of the Secretary-General on Small arms and light weapons

Thank you Mr. President.

We thank Sierra Leone for convening this important briefing and we also want to thank you, Your Excellency, for chairing it.

We express appreciation to the Secretary-General for his latest biennial report and we thank all briefers for providing us with very holistic picture of this problem.

Mr. President,

Every minute, somewhere in the world, a life is taken by a small arm. Not by chance – but because these weapons are easy to find, easy to hide, easy to use, and too often, as we heard earlier by Interpol representative, impossible to trace. Their destruction is daily, quiet, almost invisible, yet their cumulative toll surpasses that of most wars.

The Secretary-General’s report confirms what we already know: these weapons thrive in the shadows – in the cracks of governance, in the silences of law, in the failures of accountability. They flow where institutions are weakest, where borders are most porous, and where hope is most fragile.

And Dr. Descardes of Haiti’s presentation was an illustration of that. We all know that large-scale wars capture the headlines, but it is small arms and light weapons (SALW) that sustain the silent, daily wars – on the streets, in homes, in refugee camps long after peace agreements are signed. They determine whether children can go to school safely, whether women can live free from fear, whether elections can be held without intimidation, whether peace agreements endure or fall apart.

Mr. President,

Poor stockpile management, unsecured depots, and diverted munitions are silent enablers of this instability. We must enhance weapons and ammunition management. The Global Framework for Through-life Conventional Ammunition Management offers a powerful new tool to address these risks. We join the Secretary-General’s call for Member States and the Security Council to integrate weapons and ammunition management into peace operations, sanctions regimes and post-conflict transitions.

We also stress the importance of such integration of ammunition management into disarmament, demobilization and reintegration processes, ensuring that former combatants and affected communities can rebuild their lives free from the threat of re-armament.

Mr. President,

We live in a time of great and fast technological advancement. However, we belive technology should be used wisely and responsibly. The same innovations that make it easier to produce untraceable weapons can also enable better tracing, data sharing, and transparency. We must therefore make technology part of the solution, not part of the problem. These tools should be used to prevent diversion and strengthen oversight.

Slovenia believes that arms control must go hand in hand with the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security and Youth, Peace and Security agendas, a point emphasized earlier by the High Representative of the African Union. Women should be meaningfully involved in all processes related to the management of small arms and light weapons. Sexual and gender-based violence are fueled by the proliferation and widespread availability of small arms and light weapons in almost all conflict settings. At the same time, many of today’s young people have grown up surrounded by firearms, in conflict zones, in communities affected by crime and violence, and in digital spaces that glamorize violence. What if, instead, they were empowered to lead efforts on disarmament and to become agents of change?

In the end, it is about protection of civilians. It is about whether people can live without fear. Whether a community can rebuild after war. Whether peace is simply declared or truly lived.

I thank you.

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