Council Decision (CFSP) 2019/2191Dangos y teitl llawn

1. Background and rationale for CFSP support U.K.

1.1. This Decision builds on successive Council Decisions to combat the destabilising impact of the diversion and trafficking of conventional arms and their ammunition in conflict‐affected areas, in particular Decisions 2013/698/CFSP, (CFSP) 2015/1908, and (CFSP) 2017/2283 which established and enhanced the iTrace global reporting mechanism on conventional arms and their ammunition. U.K.

The illicit proliferation of conventional arms and their ammunition is a major factor undermining State stability and exacerbating conflicts, which poses a serious threat to peace and security. As stated in the EU SALW Strategy, illicit firearms and SALW continue to contribute to instability and violence in the Union, in its immediate neighbourhood, and in the rest of the world. Illicit small arms are fuelling global terrorism and conflicts, thwarting the Union's development and crisis management, humanitarian and stabilisation efforts in parts of the Union's neighbourhood and Africa. Within the Union, illicit firearms have a clear impact on internal security, by fuelling organised crime and providing terrorists with means to carry out attacks on European soil. Recent findings from the iTrace project in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen, and other conflicts close to the Union's external borders, confirm the assertions in the EU SALW Strategy.

The activities conducted under Decision (CFSP) 2015/1908 confirmed iTrace as a global conflict weapon monitoring initiative. The iTrace Project has operated in more than 40 conflict-affected states, including in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and South and East Asia. and has created the world's largest public repository of diverted conventional arms and their ammunition to support States in their efforts to detect and address diversion in line with commitments to Criterion 7 of Common Position 2008/944/CFSP and Article 11 of the ATT. It provides for precise reporting on the diversion of arms and their ammunition flowing to armed insurgent and terrorist forces that pose a threat to the security of the Union, including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Daesh/Islamic State, and alerts Member State export control authorities confidentially, and rapidly, to post‐export diversion risks, providing critical, real-time information to EU Delegations and Member State diplomatic missions in conflict-affected regions on arms trafficking and conflict dynamics. It mainstreams awareness of arms control and counter‐diversion measures through balanced and responsible global news media engagement.

1.2. The iTrace project, however, faces sustained calls by Member States to provide direct, face‐to‐face briefings to national arms export licensing authorities (including frequent visits to capitals) and to provide a greater range of resources bilaterally to Member State arms export control policy makers. U.K.

This Decision therefore aims to continue and enhance the work of the project under Decision (CFSP) 2017/2283 by further providing Union policy makers, arms control experts and arms export control officers with systematically compiled, relevant information, which will support them in developing effective, evidence-based strategies against the diversion and illicit spread of conventional arms and their ammunition in order to improve international and regional security. It will thus continue to support them to combine a successful reactive strategy with adequate preventive action to address illegal supply and demand, and to ensure effective conventional arms control in third countries.

1.3. This Decision provides for the continued maintenance and further enhancement of the publicly accessible iTrace Global Weapon Reporting System. The projects listed in Decision (CFSP) 2017/2283 will be reinforced by: 1) the increased frequency and duration of missions to gather data on illicit conventional arms supplies into conflict-affected regions; 2) tailored support packages provided to Member States comprising direct consultation, bespoke data and reports, a 24-hour help desk, and post-shipment verification tasking; and 3) the training and mentoring of national authorities in conflict‐affected States to trace illicit conventional arms found or seized on their territorial jurisdiction, to build counter-diversion capacity, including tracing capacities in the framework of the International Tracing Instrument (ITI), to enhance weapon management, including record keeping, and to boost the collection of iTrace data. U.K.