CICS is a core partner in the Biting the Bullet project, along with Saferworld and International Alert. In its first phase, Biting the Bullet prepared a series of briefing papers on key issues for international agreement which fed into the July 2001 UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects. At this conference, UN member states agreed a Programme of Action which is the primary global framework for tackling the proliferation of SALW. Biting the Bullet is currently engaged in two major areas of activity related to the implementation and further development of the Programme of Action.

The Report on Implementation of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms

The monitoring of states implementation of the Programme of Action is key to developing good practice in tackling small arms and improving the Programme of Action at the 2006 review conference. Biting the Bullet, in partnership with the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), produced a report monitoring states implementation of the programme of action for the 2003 Biennial Meeting of States (BMS) 'Implementing the Programme of Action 2003, Action by States and Civil Society'. The report was welcomed by governments from all regions of the world as a valuable contribution to the BMS.

The 2003 report provided information on implementation in 156 countries and in depth analysis of key commitment areas. Biting the Bullet are currently researching a second report to be launched at the 2005 Biennial Meeting of States. Recent project activities include research training workshops in Moscow in October 2004, and Beirut in January 2005.

A third report will be prepared to feed into the revision of the Programme of Action at the 2006 review conference.

Informal Consultative Group Process

Biting the Bullet convenes an informal Small Arms Consultative Group Process to facilitate discussion on and the development of shared understandings of critical issues that proved controversial at the 2001 UN Conference. Participants in this Small Arms Consultative Group Process consist of representatives of some 30 governments from all regions of the world, together with selected non-governmental experts and officials from the UN and other relevant international organisations. This Consultative Group Process focuses on two key and linked issues for which developing international agreement in 2001 proved difficult or impossible:

• International guidelines relating to SALW transfer controls, and
• Transfers of SALW to non-state actors.

Since January 2003, the group has met four times formally (London, Prague, Nairobi, and Colombo). The Consultative Group Process is entering a new phase of activity aimed at generating practical recommendations for international measures on these two key issue areas and linking with the UN and other regional small arms processes.