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

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139 Notes 1 The author would like to thank Mujahid Alam, Brigadier, Pakistan Military—UN Commission of Inquiry on Rwanda; Péricles Gasparini Alves, Director of UN LiREC; J.A.J. (Mike) Buisson, Assistant Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Firearms Act Program; Riccardo De-Caris, Director Legal Section Support Services, South African Police Service; Murray A Smith, Chief Scientist— Firearms, RCMP Central Forensic Laboratory, Ottawa; Gary L Thomas, Chief, Firearms Programs Division, US Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms; Dr. Stefano Toscano, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland; Representatives of the Australian Ministry of Defence; Representatives of the Swiss Ministry of Defence; Representatives of the British Security Service, Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence, HM Customs and Excise, and the National Criminal Intelligence Service. 2 CIP member States: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Russia, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom. 3 The RCMP has licensed sales of their FREDES and FRT programmes to a private company, Computer Aids Incorporated— Gilles_Verner@notes.compaid.com—and, for example, FRT will cost between US$ 1,000 and 1,500 to buy the complete database on 2 CD ROMs compared to the CDN$ 7 million it cost to create. 4 It is appreciated that, on constitutional grounds, the US does not permit personal firearm registration. Nevertheless, tracing remains effective due to a federal requirement that all sales be recorded, and these are then notified to the ATF and centrally held at their National Tracing Center (NTC). (Other countries, which have legislated for firearm ownership, require individual licensing and registration). 5 Article 4 CIP Regulations requires the Proof House to verify that marks have been applied in a clearly visible and durable manner on at least one highly stressed component of each firearm detailing manufacturer, serial number and calibre. 6 Sirene is the computer system shared by those European countries which are also parties to the Schengen Agreement to exchange information between their law enforcement agencies. Amongst the information held are details of stolen high value vehicles and all stolen firearms. 7 http://salsa.oceanus.ca/ 8 www.cicad.oas.org and www.unlirec.org.
140 9 It was notable during negotiations on the UN Firearms Protocol that a limited number of countries wished to preserve the right to exempt certain transfers and transactions from the scope of the Protocol. As a consequence, some weapons manufactured or imported for a particular national security interest could, for example, have no identifying markings. 10 Swiss military weapons are stamped with the national flag and the initial “A” plus a quality control mark, “KW+”. Weapons subsequently decommissioned by the Swiss military are each stamped with the letter “P” signifying they have passed into private ownership. 11 www.smartwater.com. 12 www.datadot-uk.com. 13 Whilst record-keeping in many countries is undertaken by a regional or federal police department, it is acknowledged that this can be a politically sensitive issue amongst shooting rights and civil liberty groups. There are arguments for the agency to be an independent commercial organization, statutorily underpinned to provide enforcement powers, but regulated by the national arms trade association with judicial oversight and inspection undertaken by a government department. However, this can be impractical, as police and customs need unrestricted live access to the record-keeping database to allow for proactive intervention against potentially suspicious transactions. 14 Reproduced by kind permission of NCIS NFTS. 15 Reproduced by kind permission of the RCMP. 16 Black = illicit, and Grey = State sponsored. 17 Extract from the SAPS response to the Swiss-French Initiative on a Tracing Mechanism. 18 “Illicit trafficking: the import, export, acquisition, sale, delivery, movement or transfer of firearms, their parts and components and ammunition from or across the territory of one State Party to that of another State Party if any one of the State Parties concerned does not authorize it in accordance with the terms of the Protocol or if the firearms are not marked in accordance with Article 8 of this Protocol.” 19 “Tracing shall mean the systematic tracking of firearms and, where possible their parts and components and ammunition from manufacturer to purchaser for the purpose of assisting the competent authorities of States Parties in detecting, investigating and analyzing illicit manufacturing and illicit trafficking.”
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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
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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 and 150: 136 3. If Interpol is not up to the
Page 151: 138 which restrict the amount of in
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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
Page 201 and 202: 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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