INTERPOL National Awareness Workshop on Illicit Firearms in South Sudan
On 28-29 November 2018, INTERPOL organized a National Awareness Workshop on Illicit Firearms in South Sudan. This meeting was convened with the support of INTERPOL Regional Bureau in Nairobi, Kenya, and was attended by representatives from various law enforcement and military organizations. Even if South Sudan is under firearms embargo, newly trafficked firearms keep being recovered from the hands of organized groups and violent individuals The aim of this workshop was to gather various representatives of national law enforcement and defense organizations in order to discuss the fireamrs situation in the country. At the end of the meeting, a list of firearms-related goals has been established. South Sudan has just emerged from conflict and there is also simmering tensions between warring factions in the country who are implementing a fragile ceasefire and this increases the risk of SALW proliferation in the country.
Funded by the European Union, the INTERPOL Illicit Arms Records and tracing Management System (iARMS) is a platform that facilitates information exchange and investigative cooperation between law enforcement agencies in relation to the international movement of illicit firearms. Countries are encouraged to upload records of lost and stolen firearms in iARMS. Consequently, in the case of a recovered firearm, the database is queried and the country can identify when and where the firearm was diverted into illegal possession.
Shall the query not generate a positive result, the user can send a request to the country of manufacture, country of last legal import (if marked on the firearm) and to any country that may be connected to the case.
