The Scope and Implications of a Tracing Mechanism for Small Arms ...

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3.6 STORAGE AND ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION
3.6.1 Storage
To accommodate the understandable sensitivities of governments,
records for military stocks should be kept separate from commercial and
civilian record-keeping systems. It is unlikely that an international database,
which records the details of each individual weapon transferred, is a viable
prospect. There will be some tensions between the proposals for a
transparent CICAD/UNLiREC/OAS SALSA system and individual national
security interests of the countries involved. Where this occurs, it is
imperative that an independent national record is maintained which can be
made available on a case-by-case basis for specific tracing requests. SALSA
will be maintained by UNLiREC on behalf of the OAS countries. This will
contribute to its overall integrity and provides a helpful benchmark for any
other regional database being considered, as it would seem prudent that
the data-holder should be an independent trusted third party.
Commercial and civilian databases should be operated by an agency 13
with a statutory inspection and enforcement function, such as police or
customs. Military databases should be controlled by one national defence
agency on behalf of all the armed services. This practice is already in place
in countries like South Africa where the South African National Defense
Force maintains the automated military register, and the South African
Police Service operates the commercial and civilian database.
Records of all lost or stolen firearms and military weapons should be
circulated worldwide by being posted on the Interpol IWETS database, as
well as on any regional system, such as the European Sirene database.
There are understandable political sensitivities involving national
security issues that influence the degree of transparency to which countries
will allow access to their national records. This was emphasized by China
during their negotiations on the UN Firearms Protocol. China declined to
accept a proposal for a universal standard marking system involving a simple
alphanumeric code. Instead, China encouraged UN member States to
accept that all Chinese manufactured weapons will be uniquely and
individually marked but the only element that could be readily understood
by others would be the country of manufacture. China was unwilling to
reveal its marking system and unlock the code for other countries to begin