Tracking Lethals Tools. Marking and tracing weapons: a central piece of the arms control puzzle

Index Number: ACT 30/022/2004
Date Published: 1 December 2004

Under the United Nations Programme of Action on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons, negotiations have started to agree a common approach to marking and tracing small arms, light weapons and ammunition. This report details essential measures that governments, with the help of the UN, should adopt if they are to seize the opportunities offered by the current UN negotiations on an international marking and tracing instrument. In particular, they must adopt a legally binding treaty rather than a voluntary instrument that governments can ignore. The continuing proliferation and misuse of arms in violation of international and national law takes a massive toll in lost lives, lost livelihoods, and lost opportunities to escape poverty and oppression.