DYB2011-Part-II-web

United Nations Disarmament Yearbook 2011: Part II
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Status of implementation
As of 31 December, the record of reporting by States on the
implementation of resolution 1540 (2004) reached the high level of 168 States
having submitted at least one report and 105 States having provided additional
information, many of them more than once. In 2011, Ethiopia, Gabon and
Rwanda provided their first reports to the 1540 Committee and seven States84 submitted additional information.
States were also encouraged to prepare on a voluntary basis national
implementation action plans mapping out their priorities and plans for
implementing the key provisions of resolution 1540 (2004) and to submit
those plans to the Committee. France submitted a national action plan, which
shared experience on the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004) and on
capacity-building activities. The action plan also urged States wishing to
receive assistance to submit detailed requests. This brought to four85 the
number of national action plans submitted to the Committee as at the end
of 2011. The Committee experts contributed to country-specific activities
with the Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Kyrgyzstan, supported by the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the United Nations
Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), to assist them in developing
national action plans.
Assistance
Resolution 1540 (2004) recognized that some States may require
assistance in implementing the resolution and invited States to offer assistance
in response to specific requests. The 1540 Committee facilitates assistance
efforts by matching assistance requests and offers through its assistance
template.
In 2011, Afghanistan, Albania, Ethiopia and the Caribbean Community
made new assistance requests and Canada, France and the United States
provided updates on their previous offers of assistance. Developments
during the year focused on implementation of revised guidelines to process
assistance requests, facilitation of match-making between assistance requests
and assistance offers, and continued development and refining of assistance
guidelines.
Cooperation between the Committee and other international
organizations
On 19 October, the European Union (EU) and the United States signed a
joint declaration86 reiterating their commitment to the full and comprehensive
84 Croatia, Finland, France, Mexico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine.
85 Argentina, Canada and the United States had previously submitted a national action plan.
86 Available from http://www.un.org/en/sc/1540/national-implementation/pdf/eu_us_declaration.pdf
(accessed 9 May 2012).