The first substantive meeting of the Open Ended Working Group on Tracing Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons takes place on 14-25 June 2004 in New York. The purpose of this meeting is to define the scope of a possible treaty on the marking and tracing of small arms, which will be negotiated in detail later in 2004 and 2005.

In preparation for this meeting, IANSA has produced two documents that are currently collecting endorsements from NGOs worldwide. First, our essential elements of marking and tracing sets out concisely the broad requirements that we feel are necessary for a marking and tracing treaty to be effective in preventing armed violence. Second, our position paper on M&T outlines at greater length IANSA’s proposed recommendations to the OEWG concerning specific technical aspects of marking and tracing.

Endorse IANSA’s position - please read and endorse these documents so that we can present them to the OEWG on behalf of a wide range of NGOs. The easiest to read is the essential elements of marking and tracing. If you agree that these principles should underpin the new global treaty on M&T, send a statement of endorsement to tracing@iansa.org.