Taking stock of action on the illicit small arms trade: Combating the illicit trade in and proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the Member States of the League of Arab States

Small Arms Survey Online Forum Inventory 3

By: Lubna Allam and Emilia Dungel

The League of Arab States (LAS), INTERPOL, the Small Arms Survey, and the World Customs Organization (WCO) — supported by the EU — are working together on a joint project to combat the illicit trade in, and proliferation of, small arms and light weapons in LAS Member States. The third panel of the Small Arms Survey 2020 online forum ‘Taking stock of action on the illicit small arms trade’ provided an overview of the project’s objectives and training modules, as well as its contribution to the seventh biennial meeting of the UN Programme of Action on small arms (PoA BMS7).

Objectives

The project aims to strengthen the capacity of LAS Member States to combat illicit small arms and light weapons based on the needs and priorities of those states. Specifically, the project aims to:

• sustainably build the national capacity of LAS Member States to combat the illicit proliferation of small arms, combat terrorism, and enhance security in post-conflict situations;
• sustainably build the regional capacity of the LAS to address the same challenges;
• strengthen LAS Member States’ national control over small arms and light weapons (SALW) at key stages of their life cycle; and
• enhance the exchange of best practices and lessons learned.

Training

A strong component of the project involves offering training as part of regional and national capacity building. Modules include, but are not limited to:

• Sources of weapons
• International legislation
• Stockpile management and security
• License fraud and indicators
• Counterfeit and forgery
• Illicit manufacture, including 3D-printed firearms
• Identification of small arms and light weapons
• Serial numbers and marking
• Marking, record-keeping, and tracing
• Use of INTERPOL tools (iARMS, Firearms Recovery Protocol)
• Evidence and rules
• Forensic handling
• Safe handling
• Detection, trends, and emerging threats
• Risk assessments

BMS7 contributions

The project contributes to the implementation of both the PoA and the International Tracing Instrument (ITI). The former, through addressing the issue of diversion — including measures to prevent, detect, and combat it; the latter, through the emphasis placed on marking, tracing, and record keeping, in addition to tackling emerging technological challenges.

For more information on the topics that will be addressed at BMS7, see:

• UNSG report A/74/187 of 17 July 2019 (especially sec. III/voluntary national targets for PoA and ITI implementation; sec. IV/possible elements of an ITI annex: ensuring the durable marking of polymer frames and effective record-keeping and tracing for modular weapons);
• UNSG report A/75/78 of 14 April 2020 (preventing and combating diversion)
• UNODA webpage on BMS7

Read EU Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/1789 of 19 November 2018 to learn more about the project.

The speakers for this panel were:

• Chair: Glenn McDonald, Small Arms Survey
• Fadi Achaia, Arms Control and Disarmament Department, League of Arab States
• Lubna Allam, Small Arms Survey
• Oisin Dawson, Small Arms Survey
• Dhekra Fraoua, Small Arms Survey
• Ralph P. Martinez, Firearms Programme, INTERPOL General Secretariat
• Lene Rietveld, European External Action Service
• Andrew Reynolds, World Customs Organization