This side event will offer a comprehensive analysis of the global dynamics of firearms trafficking, drawing on research by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), and the insights and policy contributions of the event’s co-organizers, the governments of Switzerland and Mexico.

Speakers will consider how the proliferation of small arms and light weapons acts as an accelerant of organized crime and a destabilizing force in post-conflict and fragile environments. In such contexts, the availability, trafficking and diversion of firearms fuel organized crime, which in turn propels them further, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of violence, corruption and institutional erosion.

The discussion will trace the mechanisms of illicit weapon flows, from points of diversion, such as state stockpiles, conflict zones and international transfers, into the hands of criminal and armed groups. Drawing on comparative case studies, the session will highlight lessons learned in arms management and post-conflict stabilization.

Building on a recent collaboration between the GI-TOC and the Swiss Embassy in Mexico, the event will also include a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean – two regions where organized crime thrives amid chronic violence, and where illicit firearms trafficking sustains complex criminal economies despite the absence of formal armed conflict. By examining how criminal actors exploit arms trafficking to consolidate power and undermine governance, the event will offer forward-looking reflections on strengthening arms control frameworks such as the Arms Trade Treaty, disrupting trafficking networks, and integrating firearms management into broader strategies for peacebuilding, crime prevention and institutional resilience.

The aim is to provide policymakers, researchers and practitioners with:

• a global perspective on illicit firearms markets;
• case-specific lessons on weapons proliferation following conflict or state collapse;
• practical insights into the arms trafficking ecosystems of Latin America and the Caribbean; and
• policy recommendations applicable to active and emerging conflict and post-conflict settings.

Speakers

• H.E. Francisca E. Méndez Escobar, Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN in Geneva
• Paddy Ginn, Senior expert, GI-TOC
• Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Senior expert, GI-TOC
• Jari Correvon, Deputy head of export control of armaments, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, Switzerland
• Moderator: Tuesday Reitano, Managing Director, GI-TOC