Division 4.2.1 Project objective

The project will enhance the frequency and duration of in-field research into conventional arms and ammunition circulating in conflict-affected areas. The project will prioritise countries of particular concern to Member States, including, inter alia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Mali, South Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen. These on-the-ground investigations will provide concrete evidence of diverted conventional arms in the hands of insurgent and terrorist forces, which would otherwise be invisible to external observers (including arms-exporting Member States). CAR will request the prior approval of the EU Working Party on Conventional Arms Export (COARM) before substantive engagement in all countries not previously subject to iTrace field investigations or iTrace training and mentoring programmes.

Using new technologies and advanced forensic techniques, CAR will employ a range of in-field activities, including enhanced photographic documentation, forensic exploitation, and obliterated mark recovery. CAR has proved that these methods reveal traceable information on previously untraceable weapons, ammunition, and related materiel, allowing investigations into a growing range of illicit material, whose identifying information has been removed to conceal provenance.

The resulting data will improve Member States' collective understanding of diversion and illicit transfers, methods used by traffickers to conceal them, and substantially enhance their capacities to disrupt illicit trade.