The project will provide ‘on demand’ training on weapon identification, tracing, and management to local partners and, where required, peace support staff (including UN and Union Missions and Sanctions Monitoring Groups or Panels). This training will build on a range of services offered by CAR since 2014—although budgeted outside of the iTrace I and II projects—which has proved critical to facilitating the projects.
The project will deploy staff from its field investigation teams to instruct at progressively more technical levels, encompassing:
an introduction to weapon data collection, with reference to specific cases;
basic weapon identification and effective weapon documentation techniques;
evidence collection standard operating procedures and the evidentiary chain of custody;
the requirements of long-range, regional, and international investigations;
the implementation of the International Tracing Instrument;
international weapon tracing and weapon tracing systems (notably Interpol and Europol);
the use of ‘big data’ and trend analysis; and
avenues for technical assistance (international) and law enforcement intervention.
These activities will be conducted alongside iTrace field investigations—including joint investigations (mentoring) conducted with national government authorities.
The project will:
encourage national authorities to grant greater access to iTrace field investigation teams—responding to repeated calls for iTrace teams to provide technical assistance and joint investigation capacity, and equating to increased iTrace data.
provide concrete capacity assistance to national governments that, while suffering the impacts of weapon diversion, lack the tools to identify and report on diverted conflict weapons—this is often a precursor to more effective domestic weapon management and, as such, supports implementation of the ATT, ITI, and PoA and physical security and stockpile management (PSSM) programming and liaison with international law enforcement bodies, including Interpol (iARMS) and Europol.
support enhanced dialogue—notably identifying key stakeholders for other Union-supported initiatives (e.g. Union Mission relations with host governments) and kick-starting initiatives, such as PSSM programming (e.g. Union-supported stockpile management projects).
Up to 30 in-field training and mentoring visits, with an emphasis on repeat visits to support national authorities in building tracing capacity.
The project will be implemented over the full two-year iTrace project period.
iTrace training and mentoring activities will have direct benefits for national stakeholders in conflict-affected states, including law enforcement bodies and prosecutors. The programme will offer indirect support to national dialogues with Union-funded and other arms control initiatives, encouraging the use of international tracing mechanisms (including Interpol's iARMS system and Europol), and facilitating engagement with Union-supported stockpile management projects and other SALW-control projects.
The project will enhance the frequency and duration of in-field research into SALW and other conventional weapons and ammunition circulating in conflict-affected areas. The project will prioritise countries of particular concern to Member States, including, inter alia, Iraq, Libya, Mali, South Sudan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.
The establishment of formal information-sharing agreements with Union and UN Missions and with a range of organisations will facilitate the project, as will the selective sending of formal trace requests to national governments. In addition, the project will continue to conduct desk research into and verify (through in-field investigations) existing information on relevant transfers gathered from organisations other than CAR for entry into the iTrace system.
The following activities will be undertaken in the framework of this project:
the deployment of qualified weapon experts to conduct in-field analysis of illicit SALW and other conventional weapons, ammunition and related materiel recovered from conflict-affected states;
the analysis, review and verification of documented evidence on illicit SALW and other illicit conventional weapons, ammunition and their users, including, inter alia, photographs of weapons, their component parts and internal and external markings, packaging, associated shipping documentation and the results of field investigations (users, suppliers and transfer routes);
the review and verification of additional recent evidence on illicit SALW and of other conventional weapons and ammunition gathered by organisations other than CAR, including reports by UN sanctions monitoring groups, civil society organisations, and the international news media;
the uploading of all collected and reviewed evidence onto the iTrace information management system and online mapping portal;
the identification and support of local partners to ensure sustained data collection in support of iTrace throughout the duration of the proposed Action and beyond;
the continued liaison with national governments to pre-define national points of contact, and a coordination mechanism, in order to clarify the scope of CAR's investigations, and alleviate possible conflicts of interest, in advance of its investigations.
The project will be implemented incrementally over the full two-year iTrace project period.
The project will:
document, in situ, the physical evidence of diverted or trafficked conventional weapons and ammunition in conflict-affected regions;
verify and develop illicit trafficking cases from evidence gathered by CAR, by organisations with standing information-sharing agreements with CAR, and, as appropriate, other organisations, on diverted or trafficked conventional weapons and ammunition across all regions;
provide concrete visual evidence of diverted or trafficked conventional weapons and ammunition, including photographs of items, serial numbers, factory marks, boxes, packing lists, shipping documents, and end user certification;
generate textual accounts of illicit activity, including trafficking routes, actors involved in diversion or illicit transfer and assessments of contributing factors (including ineffective stockpile management and security and deliberate, state-orchestrated illicit supply networks);
upload the aforementioned evidence into the iTrace information management system and online mapping portal for full public dissemination and to Member States through secure desktop and mobile platforms.
Up to 50 field deployments (including extended deployment where required) throughout the two-year period to generate evidence to upload into the iTrace information management system and online mapping portal.
The project will be implemented over the full two-year iTrace project period.
iTrace will continue to provide increasingly comprehensive information explicitly targeted first and foremost at Member State arms control policy makers, and arms export licensing authorities as well as Union institutions, agencies and missions. These Union beneficiaries will also have access to confidential information through secure desktop and mobile platforms provided by iTrace.
Public information will continue to be accessible to all Union beneficiaries as well as to non-Union beneficiaries, notably arms control policy makers and arms export licencing authorities in 3rd countries. But also regional and international organisations (including UN sanctions monitoring groups, UN peacekeeping missions, UNODC, UNODA and INTERPOL); non-governmental research organisations (including Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), Group for Research and Information on Peace (GRIP), Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), and Small Arms Survey); advocacy organisations (including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch) and the international news media will profit from the information published by iTrace.
iTrace project staff will work in close cooperation with Member States national arms export licencing authorities. Information provided by Member States national arms exports licensing authorities will be treated with due respect and confidentiality. iTrace will also continue to be in contact with a range of national arms export licencing authorities of third countries. These relationships will support several critical aspects of international efforts to address diversion and trafficking of conventional weapons and reinforce international counter-diversion measures, including:
providing detailed data and evidence on documented diversion to arms export licencing authorities
Supporting or providing, on official request by Member State national arms export licencing authorities, post-shipment or post-delivery verification capacity to Member States.
The following activities will be undertaken in the framework of this project:
iTrace teams sent on repeat visits to relevant authorities in Member State capitals to brief on counter-diversion issues, and report on international investigations;
A 24-hour helpdesk to provide instant advice on counter-diversion or potentially negative press allegations arising from unverified third party reporting;
The bespoke development for Member State export licencing authorities of online dashboards, which will stream secured data from the iTrace system—‘red flagging’ parties with a history of diverting weapons, profiling high-risk destinations, and reporting, in real time, diversion of domestically manufactured weapons; and
The support or provision, on official request by Member State national arms exports licensing authorities, of post-delivery end use checks (verification) to Member States by iTrace field investigation teams.
The project will be implemented over the full two-year iTrace project period.
The project will:
assist Member State arms export licensing authorities, on their request in identifying post-export diversion;
supply information in support of full diversion risk analysis by Member State arms export licensing authorities (in line with the ATT and Common Position 2008/944/CFSP) prior to granting export licences;
provide Member State arms export licensing authorities with post-shipment verification capacity on their demand;
support Member State arms control policy makers with real-time information on diversion and trafficking trends in support of national engagement in international policy processes; and
assist Member State national law enforcement agencies in support of criminal investigations, where applicable and on their request.
The design and development by the existing iTrace system designers of bespoke desktop and mobile dashboards, which will stream live information from secure partitions within the iTrace system to Member State national authorities. A help desk, which will be manned by iTrace project staff, to provide full support to Member State arms export control authorities and arms control policy makers. Up to 30 visits to Member State capitals on request.
The project will be implemented over the full two-year iTrace project period.
All interested Member States, with visits to capital and post-shipment verification missions conducted on request.
The project will showcase the benefits of iTrace to international and national policy makers, conventional arms control experts, and arms export licencing authorities. Outreach initiatives will also be designed to further coordinate information sharing and build sustainable partnerships with individuals and organisations capable of generating information that can be uploaded into the iTrace system.
The following activities will, with due attention to avoiding overlapping with other undertakings for instance on ATT outreach, be undertaken in the framework of this project:
iTrace project staff presentations to relevant international conferences dealing with the illicit trade in conventional weapons in all its aspects. Staff presentations will be designed to showcase iTrace, with an emphasis on 1) its concrete benefits for assisting in monitoring the implementation of the UN Programme of Action, the ATT, and other relevant international instruments; 2) its utility in identifying priority areas for international assistance and cooperation; and 3) its utility as a risk assessment profiling mechanism for arms export licensing authorities;
iTrace project staff presentations to national governments and peacekeeping operations. Staff presentations will be designed to showcase iTrace to relevant mission departments, to encourage and develop formal information-sharing agreements capable of generating information that can be uploaded into the iTrace system, as well as to assist policy makers in identifying priority areas for international assistance and cooperation.
The project will be implemented over the full two-year iTrace project period.
The project will:
demonstrate the utility of iTrace and the concept of documenting, compiling and sharing data on diversion to national and international policy makers working to implement conventional arms control and arms export control agreements (UN Programme of Action, ATT, and other relevant international instruments) and evaluate their implementation;
provide relevant information to assist policy makers and conventional arms control experts in identifying priority areas for international assistance and cooperation and devising effective counter-diversion strategies;
provide arms export licencing authorities with in-depth information on iTrace and its risk assessment utility, in addition to providing an avenue for further feedback and system enhancement;
facilitate information-sharing among national governments and UN peacekeeping operations, including data processing and analysis using the iTrace system;
facilitate the networking by an expanding group of conventional arms control experts involved in conducting in situ investigations into the diversion and trafficking of conventional weapons and ammunition;
raise the public profile of conventional weapons and ammunition tracing as a means to assist in monitoring the implementation of the UN Programme of Action, the ITI, the ATT and other international and regional arms control and arms export control instruments.
Up to 20 outreach conferences attended by iTrace staff. All conferences will include presentations of iTrace. Conference agendas and brief summaries will be included in the final report.
The project will be implemented over the full two-year iTrace project period.
Please see Section 4.2.5 above for a full list of beneficiaries, which is identical to the beneficiaries of this project.
The project will provide key policy issue reports, drawn from the data generated by field investigations and presented on the iTrace system. The reports will be designed to highlight specific areas of international concern, including major conventional weapons and ammunition trafficking patterns, the regional distribution of trafficked weapons and ammunition, and priority areas for international attention.
In-depth analysis leading to the compilation, review, editing and publication of up to 10 iTrace policy reports.
The project will:
produce up to 10 reports, each profiling a separate issue of international concern;
ensure the distribution of iTrace policy reports to all Member States;
devise a targeted outreach strategy to ensure maximum global coverage;
sustain the visibility of the Action in the policy arena and international news media by, inter alia, presenting illicit weapon information of topical concern; providing policy relevant analysis in support of on-going arms control processes and tailoring reports to provide maximum international news media interest.
Up to 10 online iTrace policy reports produced throughout the duration of the proposed Action and distributed globally.
Please see Section 4.2.5 above for a full list of beneficiaries, which is identical to the beneficiaries of this project.