UNITED NATIONS TWO-DAY WORKSHOP ON IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL

SMALL ARMS MARKING, TRACING INSTRUMENT HELD IN LOME, 17-18 APRIL

 

LOMÉ, 22 April (Office for Disarmament Affairs) -- A workshop to support the implementation of the International Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons (International Tracing Instrument) held its session on 17 and 18 April, in Lomé, Togo.

Organized by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, in partnership with the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), the Lomé workshop was made possible thanks to financial support from the European Union and the Governments of Japan and Norway.

The workshop, tailored for West and Central African countries, is part of a series aimed at promoting the International Tracing Instrument and assisting States in building their capacity to implement it.  The workshop aimed to help relevant Government officials to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Instrument, its operational aspects and technical tools for the tracing of illicit small arms and light weapons, such as INTERPOL’s Electronic Weapons Tracing System (IWeTS).  It was also designed to help to identify areas where capacity-building is needed.

Under the International Tracing Instrument, which was adopted by the General Assembly in December 2005, States committed themselves to undertake a number of measures to ensure the adequate marking of and record-keeping for small arms and light weapons, and to strengthen cooperation in tracing illicit ones.

The workshop benefited from the technical and substantive contributions of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), including the ECOWAS Small Arms Control Programme (ECOSAP), the Groupe de la recherche et d’information sur la paix et la sécurité (GRIP), INTERPOL, the Small Arms Survey (SAS), and the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs is planning similar workshops in Asia and the Pacific in May and in Latin America and the Caribbean in June.

For further information, please contact António E. Évora, Political Affairs Officer, Office for Disarmament Affairs, e-mail:  evora@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record