Division 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.

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.