Strengthening physical controls on the manufacture and trade in small arms and light weapons is as important as the need for high common standards on arms transfers or the control of arms brokering activities. If countries cannot trace the flow of weapons, their efforts to control other aspects of the arms trade will remain difficult to enforce. However, states’ abilities to trace arms flows are at present highly limited. What is required is a global approach that aims at establishing internationally accepted norms, including the reliable and universal system of marking of small arms and light weapons, central national registers to systematically record national and international weapons transfers, and strengthening of capacities and co-operation between enforcement agencies.

The United Nations’ work on marking and tracing began with a special Governmental Group of Experts (GGE) on Tracing Small Arms and Light Weapons that was charged with researching whether a binding instrument on marking and tracing was feasible. In the GGE’s report, they determined that a treaty was feasible and should be negotiated. Following the Secretary General’s call for member states to work toward such an instrument, the Open-ended Working Group on Tracing Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons was formed.

The first substantive meeting of the OEWG 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.

IANSA has a special role to play in this meeting and subsequent UN work on marking and tracing. During the OEWG meeting in June, IANSA will be organizing a series of briefings on special topics bearing on the issues to be discussed.

IANSA has also 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.