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

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encourage countries along the trafficking routes to strengthen border
controls and intervene at a much earlier stage along the illicit supply route.
To be achievable in an arms control context, it is important to have
measures in place which allow transactions to be monitored whilst in
progress. An important facet of any national record-keeping and tracing
system must be the ability to proactively identify potentially suspicious
transactions. In just the same way as money-laundering legislation has
provided authorities worldwide with opportunities to proactively monitor
money transactions, all weapon transfers must be the subject of similar
mandatory disclosure legislation. However, the nature of the arms market
requires prior rather than subsequent notification to allow the monitoring
and tracking system to work and early intervention to be realistic.
3.11 APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TIMES
Responses to requests made to manufacturers and the authorities
holding national records should be measured in hours rather than days.
One month is considered the absolute maximum time it should take for the
complete history of any weapon to be processed. Amongst many other
considerations, which include the protection of human life, the judicial
processes in most countries involve time limits, not only for periods of
detention before charge, but also within which the Prosecution case must
be arraigned before a Court. It is imperative, therefore, that requests to
trace weapons, which are material to a prosecution, are fast tracked to
minimize the risk of cases being abandoned through lack of corroborative
evidence.
3.12. ESTABLISHING AND OPERATING COOPERATIVE MECHANISMS
The models for cooperative mechanisms can be found in the
negotiated protocols and treaties of the UN, CICAD, OAS, OSCE and SADC
amongst others where the objective is to increase regional and global
security by reducing the proliferation of military small arms and light
weapons and to disrupt illicit trafficking. The only limitation is the degree of
transparency which will be acceptable as a minimum standard to enable
information sharing to be of any real benefit.