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

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33 also lay the basis for future negotiations aimed at strengthening such standards. An important question concerning the international tracing mechanism is whether to establish it through a legally-binding or politicallybinding instrument. There are several advantages to the legally-binding option. This would strengthen its normative force, stimulate the transposition of relevant regulations into domestic law, and provide a clear legal basis for any new institutions, incentives or sanctions that might be established to promote implementation. Yet, there are also disadvantages. Legally-binding agreements usually take longer to negotiate and enter into force, with governments typically delaying implementation until this has happened. Legally-binding treaties can also be harder to revise in the light of experience. Finally, governments tend to be more conservative in formulating legal commitments. Experience shows that politically-binding agreements can be at least as effective as legal instruments, provided they are precisely formulated and the political will for implementation is strong. The earliest date that international negotiations could realistically begin on a legally-binding instrument for tracing illicit SALW is probably early 2004—provided the UN Group of Governmental Experts concludes that such an instrument is feasible and desirable and the UN General Assembly recommends negotiations occur at its autumn 2003 session. In the meantime, there may be scope for launching a voluntary political agreement to facilitate tracing cooperation among a coalition of willing governments. If well-crafted, such a voluntary arrangement could help accelerate the implementation of commitments to cooperate in tracing, and also furnish practical experience on which future negotiators could build. 1.6.3 Possible Elements of an International Tracing Mechanism for Illicit SALW 1.6.3.1 Cooperation in Tracing The top priority for any international tracing mechanism would be to reaffirm and strengthen the central international norms on tracing cooperation noted at the beginning of section 1.6.1 above (and described in sections 1.2.3 and 1.5.4), and to clarify how these should be implemented through the elaboration of more specific international standards, procedures and mechanisms.
34 Some of the necessary elements are already agreed as part of the UN Firearms Protocol or the UN Programme of Action. These include the establishment or designation of points of contact for purposes of facilitating cooperation on tracing, and the exchange of information on national marking systems. These standards could be elaborated and strengthened. At present, the exchange of information on national marking systems is voluntary (UN Programme of Action, section III, paragraph 12). Yet, it is essential that relevant authorities be able to recognize the key elements of other countries’ marking systems and thus rapidly identify at least the country of manufacture or of legal importation, and reliably communicate the full set of marks required for unique identification of the relevant weapon. It may also be important to specify what is required of national contact points in tracing enquiries—for example, that they should be able to respond to requests relating to every type of weapon and situation covered by the mechanism, including weapons of military origin and arms seized in the context of conflict zone trafficking and UN sanctions breaking. The tracing mechanism could also usefully clarify what might reasonably be expected in the way of “timely and accurate” responses to requests for tracing information. Many national tracing systems now normally expect to receive responses within hours, and at least within 2-3 days. International minimum standards are needed in order to align expectations and prevent undue delays. States should undertake to develop and maintain national tracing systems capable of responding within agreed timeframes, subject to reasonable exceptions. Furthermore, the tracing mechanism could specify the minimum information States requesting and responding to a trace should supply. Requesting States could be expected to provide such information as identifying marks, other information which could assist with the identification of the weapon (such as a photograph or description), and confirmation that it is, or is believed to be, illicit. Minimum information which would be expected of responding States could include: confirmation that the weapon was manufactured in or imported by the State; information on the manufacturer or importers; the date of manufacture or importation; details of the legal transfer of the weapon out of the State (including dates, transfer points, transit States and the authorized final recipient); and reference codes of the transfer or customs documentation to facilitate
Page 1 and 2: UNIDIR/2002/20 The Scope and Implic
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS Page Preface. . . . . . .
Page 5: v Chapter 4 Structures and Institut
Page 8 and 9: viii point of diversion, thus inhib
Page 11 and 12: ACRONYMS ATFUS BATF BPA CFR CFR CIC
Page 13 and 14: xiii VIN WFSA WIES WR Vehicle Ident
Page 15 and 16: 2 and lines of supply of illicit SA
Page 17 and 18: 4 First, if a weapon has been invol
Page 19 and 20: 6 The UN Programme of Action includ
Page 21 and 22: 8 1.3 MARKING 1.3.1 Introduction A
Page 23 and 24: 10 uniquely identify each productio
Page 25 and 26: 12 • Ensure, at the time of trans
Page 27 and 28: 14 • increasing the resistance of
Page 29 and 30: 16 The UN Firearms Protocol, in its
Page 31 and 32: 18 component of this project is to
Page 33 and 34: 20 They clarify whether a weapon is
Page 35 and 36: 22 Though such systems have great p
Page 37 and 38: 24 have a more prominent role to pl
Page 39 and 40: 26 That said, national intelligence
Page 41 and 42: 28 training and technical assistanc
Page 43 and 44: 30 This highlights one of the most
Page 45: 32 An international tracing mechani
Page 49 and 50: 36 on sources and lines of supply o
Page 51 and 52: 38 In promoting international assis
Page 53 and 54: 40 3 Programme of Action to Prevent
Page 55 and 56: 42 25 This section draws on discuss
Page 58 and 59: 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY Berkol, Ilhan, Mark
Page 60 and 61: CHAPTER 2 WHAT TO MARK AND WHAT TO
Page 62 and 63: 49 tracing method for all SALW (con
Page 64 and 65: 51 Figure 2: : The different sub-ca
Page 66 and 67: 53 In order to better grasp the pro
Page 68 and 69: 55 SALW include weapons of war, def
Page 70 and 71: 57 The following questions should t
Page 72 and 73: 59 All of this data, while useful f
Page 74 and 75: 61 2.5 WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA FOR IN
Page 76 and 77: 63 traced, but which ones? Precisel
Page 78 and 79: 65 Table 1: Firearms recovered in c
Page 80 and 81: 67 explosives belts and dozens of t
Page 82 and 83: 69 This data provides an interestin
Page 84 and 85: 71 weapons belonging to illicit cir
Page 86 and 87: 73 imagine being able to effectivel
Page 88 and 89: 75 case of Switzerland, it would be
Page 90 and 91: 77 electronics in animal identifica
Page 92 and 93: 79 based our reflection on goals fo
Page 94 and 95: 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
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90 significance, hence in general t
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92 3.1.2 Sanitization Removal or ob
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94 Chinese Type 56-1 Unique Identif
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96 verify that the imported weapons
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98 weapons. There are risks involve
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100 China Type 56 Russia AK47 Russi
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102 channels, with the protection o
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104 3.1.9 Comments Countries seekin
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106 as a result, potentially tip-of
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108 2. All markings must be made pe
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110 shared encryption standard. The
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112 Domestic record-keeping varies
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114 Nevertheless, whilst the Wassen
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116 individual weapon, should as a
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118 • “Consolidation”—4 x 2
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120 With the scope of the Protocol
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122 The South African authorities a
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124 • (Tracing) Details of all st
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126 tracing Chinese weapons. Conseq
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128 circulating information by fax
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130 Tracing requests are normally c
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132 encourage countries along the t
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134 close enough to provide adequat
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136 3. If Interpol is not up to the
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138 which restrict the amount of in
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140 9 It was notable during negotia
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142
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144 There are other reasons as well
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146 Laws Firearms are a durable com
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148 This last point should not be u
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150 the future a firearm tracing qu
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152 There are several important ele
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154 Canada, nearly all transfers re
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156 accuracy and man-hour effective
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158 industry practices. An effectiv
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160
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162 manner in national (and possibl
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164 routine stockpile management. A
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166 International regulations on th
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168 2. The definitions of weapons,
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170 enable national authorities to
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172 serial number of the firearm. T
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174 9. Explosives: the recommendati
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176 • The States parties undertak
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178 • The following is establishe
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180 International regulations on th
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182 • The participating States ag
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184 The Convention on Plastic Explo
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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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