Division 7.1

The technical implementation of this Decision will be entrusted to CAR. CAR will perform its task under the responsibility of the HR

CAR emerged out of a growing network of arms investigators, which has pioneered conventional weapons and ammunition identification and tracing since 2006. It is the only organisation, outside of the UN system, dedicated exclusively to identifying and tracing conventional weapons, ammunition and related materiel, on the ground, in contemporary armed conflicts and its scope of operations is far wider than the fields of activity of UN Monitoring Groups, which are focused only on sanctioned states.

Its operations are also more specialised than those of existing non-governmental arms control organisations, such as BICC, GRIP, SIPRI and the Small Arms Survey (SAS). Created in consultation^f1 with the aforementioned organisations, CAR fills an important gap in their research and analysis activities. This is because they tend to focus either on compiling macro-level research (trade statistics analysis and generating information on trafficking from third parties) or ‘mid-level’ work in specific countries (often involving armed violence surveys, which are not focused on weapons per se).

In contrast to these organisations, CAR focuses exclusively on identifying and tracing weapons on the ground. This individual case study approach, and the technical capacity required to implement it, is essential for comprehensively mapping the diversion of conventional arms into and within countries in conflict, which is currently not sufficiently monitored by the international community. To do this, CAR sends small teams of investigators, with 10 or more years of weapons-specific expertise, into conflict-affected areas to examine and document illicit weapons in situ. CAR also works to assist, coordinate and verify investigations by UN Sanctions Monitors, UN mission personnel, journalists and independent researchers working on the ground.

These core competencies are the only way to generate the detailed, weapon-specific information necessary to populate a global reporting system on illicit SALW and other conventional arms, such as iTrace.