From 13 to 17 March, UNREC took part in the ECOWAS follow-up evaluation of the national 
baseline study for arms and ammunition management in Côte d'Ivoire, with technical support
by UNIDIR.

From 31 st January to 2 February 2023, UNREC participated remotely in the regional workshop for Sahel/Maghreb on Technical Guidelines for Member States to facilitate the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2370 (2017) on preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons, held in Madrid, Spain. UNREC intervened in the session highlighting the regional dimension of the implementation of the Security Council resolution, including outlining the general situation about the illicit proliferation of small arms and improvised explosive devices from a regional perspective, main challenges/gaps in arms control and disarmament in the Lake Chad basin region and other insecurity hotspots as well as good practice from past projects.

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From 31st January to 2 February  in Abuja, Nigeria, UNREC participated in the inaugural High Panel and then the proceeding of the World Customs Organization (WCO) Global Conference on Enabling Customs in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations. UNREC’s presentation on Arms control and customs challenges at border points in fragile and conflict-affected situations well received by both the organizers and delegates. UNREC further discussed potential areas to further cooperation with WCO on border control, including as it relates to arms control and human-centered security, at their request. UNREC also paid a courtesy visit, alongside the WCO Secretary General, the Director of the UNOCT Center on Terrorism and other VIPs, to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari who stressed the importance of border control for peace, security, social cohesion and socioeconomic development and the need for international and national stakeholders to come together to make it happen.

From 12 to 17 January 2023, in Brazzaville, Congo, UNREC took part in the 54th Meeting of the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa (UNSAC). UNREC made a presentation to report its work in Central Africa. To synergize and promote collaboration, UNREC conducted side meetings with UNOWAS and UNOCA, who have agreed to include UNREC in annual meetings of Peace and Development Advisors (PDAs) that the two latter entities respectively organize. This will provide opportunities for UNREC to help mainstream arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation in the United Nations Country Team Common Country Analyses. Moreover, UNREC has conducted side meetings with Member States and secured agreement in principle to conduct the second phase of the EU POA/Gender project (in-country activities) in Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea and Congo. UNREC also updated Burundi on its request for SALIENT funding, for which the UN RC in Burundi has applied. UNREC also sensitized Member States on the Project on the universalization of the Biological Weapons Convention for the Central Africa Region and discussed with Cameroun regarding the possibility to jointly organize the regional workshop for Central Africa.

On 29 December 2022, UNREC participated in a press briefing of the National Authority for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons of Togo on their activities report during the year 2022.

On 20 December 2022, UNREC submitted five project proposals to RDIOB for review, which include two proposals for consideration under UNPDF, one on Capacity building in higher education for conflict resolution in Togo, another one on a joint UNREC and UNMAS proposal for implementation in the DRC, and a fifth proposal on WAM and PSSM in Africa.

On 16 December 2022, UNREC submitted a proposal for UNSCAR Funding to help mainstream disarmament work among PDAs across areas of operation under the three Regional Centres. The draft proposal has been shared with RDIOB, UNRCPD and UNLIREC for joint review.