Division 4.5.2 Benefit to Union arms control initiatives

iTrace policy reports focus international attention on the comprehensiveness of Union arms control initiatives and the commitments made by Member States to address the diversion of conventional arms and their ammunition. Since 2013, these reports have achieved important coverage in many of the world's leading news media outlets, prompting national action by governments, parliamentarians, and civil society. Because iTrace reports do not shy away from identifying illicit conventional arms that originate in the Union, they showcase Member States' progressive attitudes towards arms control. This, arguably, encourages transparency and the expanding membership and universalisation of multilateral disarmament, non-proliferation, and arms control treaties and regimes called for in the EU Global Strategy, i.e. the 'lead by example' principle.