INTRODUCTION

All fired up. Nothing to do. The Second Review Conference (RevCon) for the UN Programme of Action (PoA) faced the same problem that had helped to sink its predecessor, namely how to make sense of a mandate that required it ‘to review progress made’ in PoA implementation when there was no mechanism to do so.

This chapter explains how the Second Review Conference, despite such uncertainty, managed to achieve a result that holds out the promise of a strengthened PoA. Drawing on relevant UN documents and the author's own observations of the meeting and its preparatory phase, the chapter examines the principal features of the Review Conference process and outcome. Its main conclusions include the following:

1. • The Second Review Conference avoided many of the problems that plagued the First Review Conference, largely through the use of a working method that contributed to the success of UN small arms meetings after 2006.

2. • The Review Conference outcome is forward-looking, setting out a series of measures intended to bolster implementation of the PoA and the International Tracing Instrument (ITI) during the next six-year meeting cycle.

3. • While the Review Conference text draws on the conclusions of preceding PoA meetings, overall it has little to say about ‘progress made’ in PoA and ITI implementation, reflecting the lack of formal monitoring tools.

4. • The Review Conference outcome raises the possibility of increased attention to longer-term trends in small arms proliferation and misuse, including the related question of PoA and ITI effectiveness.

5. […]