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

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137 communities, jeopardizing their safety and security, it is entirely appropriate that countries should be able to ask for and receive help from the international police community and utilize systems, such as IWETS, for much broader policing purposes. It is important to remember that tracing investigations can often discover material which may ultimately need to be presented as evidence in Court to prosecute the illicit traffickers identified. Therefore, from the outset, those involved in such enquiries need to comply with the rules of evidence, disclosure, forensic continuity, and confidentiality, including the protection of personal information. Training NGOs in these disciplines is essential to ensure that where an inquiry ultimately identifies illicit activity, the evidence collected throughout exists in a form that can be presented without any question of its forensic integrity being compromised. It makes good sense for NGOs to work alongside individuals from the international police community, which does not need to include local forces if there is a likelihood of local collusion in arms trafficking. To illustrate these points, in 1994 the UN Security Council set up the International Commission of Inquiry to investigate the flow of arms into Rwanda. Countries involved in the Inquiry included the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, Belgium, France, UK, and the Seychelles. A variety of sources were used in these countries ranging from police and Interpol, customs, intelligence, media reporters, defectors, refugees and a large number of private contacts. All sources were kept strictly confidential. The Inquiry Team used their own in-house methods, involving established intelligence procedures, to grade the reliability of their sources and the accuracy of the information supplied in order to undertake tracing enquiries in respect of the weapons recovered. Tracing was able to link the weapons to commercial dealers and countries that condoned the supply in breach of the arms embargoes. The Inquiry Team were able to present their own evidence to prove these offences “on balance of probability” without the need to produce witnesses and compromise the latter’s confidentiality. Access to police and military held databases can be problematic, as they may require additional judicial and national security hoops to be gone through. Access will, therefore, be on a case-by-case basis as an integral part of a specific criminal (or suspected criminal) investigation. Where records are held on computer databases, preset levels of access are often built in,
138 which restrict the amount of information available to investigators and provide sufficient detail to complete the trace without identifying more sensitive information. Where bureaucratic obstacles are created, it should be possible to fall back on an independent committee, potentially at Ministerial level, to arbitrate where access to national records, civilian or military, is initially denied. It is important to remember though, that access to national records for tracing purposes has to respect the sovereignty of the countries concerned. 3.15 CONCLUSION Marking fulfils a number of important purposes beyond providing a unique identity; it is essential for security in the event of theft, quality assurance and creating accurate inventories. Marking has to overcome many forms of attack from illicit traffickers who seek to avoid being traced by obliterating or falsifying a weapon’s identity. Marking and recordkeeping are pivotal in combating illicit trafficking and the tracing procedure is wholly reliant on their integrity. Unique unambiguous marking sustains accurate record-keeping, which in turn facilitates tracing and forensic attribution to an evidential standard. Marking methodology has to be effective in the fight against illicit trafficking and involve a degree sophistication which, when combined with computerized record-keeping to fast-track tracing and tracking, creates significant difficulties for traffickers who want to avoid weapons being traced back to them. However, all this has to be achieved in a manner that is not beyond realistic capabilities given the political and economical constraints in many developing countries. One of the outcomes of negotiations on the UN Firearms Protocol is the realisation that we are only as strong as the weakest country involved in combatting illicit arms trafficking. It is vital that the developing countries are given every assistance to upgrade their systems for marking and recordkeeping through outreach programmes led by the developed nations.
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UNIDIR/2002/20 The Scope and Implic
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CONTENTS Page Preface. . . . . . .
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v Chapter 4 Structures and Institut
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viii point of diversion, thus inhib
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ACRONYMS ATFUS BATF BPA CFR CFR CIC
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xiii VIN WFSA WIES WR Vehicle Ident
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2 and lines of supply of illicit SA
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4 First, if a weapon has been invol
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6 The UN Programme of Action includ
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8 1.3 MARKING 1.3.1 Introduction A
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10 uniquely identify each productio
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12 • Ensure, at the time of trans
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14 • increasing the resistance of
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16 The UN Firearms Protocol, in its
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18 component of this project is to
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20 They clarify whether a weapon is
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22 Though such systems have great p
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24 have a more prominent role to pl
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26 That said, national intelligence
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28 training and technical assistanc
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30 This highlights one of the most
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32 An international tracing mechani
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34 Some of the necessary elements a
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36 on sources and lines of supply o
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38 In promoting international assis
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40 3 Programme of Action to Prevent
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42 25 This section draws on discuss
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45 BIBLIOGRAPHY Berkol, Ilhan, Mark
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CHAPTER 2 WHAT TO MARK AND WHAT TO
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49 tracing method for all SALW (con
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51 Figure 2: : The different sub-ca
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53 In order to better grasp the pro
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55 SALW include weapons of war, def
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57 The following questions should t
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59 All of this data, while useful f
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61 2.5 WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA FOR IN
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63 traced, but which ones? Precisel
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65 Table 1: Firearms recovered in c
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67 explosives belts and dozens of t
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69 This data provides an interestin
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71 weapons belonging to illicit cir
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73 imagine being able to effectivel
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75 case of Switzerland, it would be
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77 electronics in animal identifica
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79 based our reflection on goals fo
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81 10 Small Arms Survey, Annuaire s
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APPENDIX 1 83
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APPENDIX 3 85
Page 100: 87 the army weapon is capable of au
Page 103 and 104: 90 significance, hence in general t
Page 105 and 106: 92 3.1.2 Sanitization Removal or ob
Page 107 and 108: 94 Chinese Type 56-1 Unique Identif
Page 109 and 110: 96 verify that the imported weapons
Page 111 and 112: 98 weapons. There are risks involve
Page 113 and 114: 100 China Type 56 Russia AK47 Russi
Page 115 and 116: 102 channels, with the protection o
Page 117 and 118: 104 3.1.9 Comments Countries seekin
Page 119 and 120: 106 as a result, potentially tip-of
Page 121 and 122: 108 2. All markings must be made pe
Page 123 and 124: 110 shared encryption standard. The
Page 125 and 126: 112 Domestic record-keeping varies
Page 127 and 128: 114 Nevertheless, whilst the Wassen
Page 129 and 130: 116 individual weapon, should as a
Page 131 and 132: 118 • “Consolidation”—4 x 2
Page 133 and 134: 120 With the scope of the Protocol
Page 135 and 136: 122 The South African authorities a
Page 137 and 138: 124 • (Tracing) Details of all st
Page 139 and 140: 126 tracing Chinese weapons. Conseq
Page 141 and 142: 128 circulating information by fax
Page 143 and 144: 130 Tracing requests are normally c
Page 145 and 146: 132 encourage countries along the t
Page 147 and 148: 134 close enough to provide adequat
Page 149: 136 3. If Interpol is not up to the
Page 153 and 154: 140 9 It was notable during negotia
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Page 157 and 158: 144 There are other reasons as well
Page 159 and 160: 146 Laws Firearms are a durable com
Page 161 and 162: 148 This last point should not be u
Page 163 and 164: 150 the future a firearm tracing qu
Page 165 and 166: 152 There are several important ele
Page 167 and 168: 154 Canada, nearly all transfers re
Page 169 and 170: 156 accuracy and man-hour effective
Page 171 and 172: 158 industry practices. An effectiv
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Page 175 and 176: 162 manner in national (and possibl
Page 177 and 178: 164 routine stockpile management. A
Page 179 and 180: 166 International regulations on th
Page 181 and 182: 168 2. The definitions of weapons,
Page 183 and 184: 170 enable national authorities to
Page 185 and 186: 172 serial number of the firearm. T
Page 187 and 188: 174 9. Explosives: the recommendati
Page 189 and 190: 176 • The States parties undertak
Page 191 and 192: 178 • The following is establishe
Page 193 and 194: 180 International regulations on th
Page 195 and 196: 182 • The participating States ag
Page 197 and 198: 184 The Convention on Plastic Explo
Page 199 and 200: 186 5.3.1 European Joint Action The
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188 years in July 2001. In December
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190 • States must make efforts to
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192 a greater degree of harmonizati
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194 this may lead to the undesirabl
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196 28 Or at least difficult or imp
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198 49 Speech by Mr. Koffi Adjouman
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200 in its capacity as President of
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202 Table 1: Scope of the Seven Pri
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204 Table 1 (continued) Characteris
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206 Characteristics of the marking
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208 Characteristics of the marking
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210 Characteristics of the recordke
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212 Characteristics of the record-k
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214 Table 4: Comparison of the Stan
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216 Characteristics of the exchange
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218
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