SEESAC Develops a Weapons Categorization Tool
Western Balkans - SEESAC is making the Weapons Categorization Tool, a software designed specifically to assist with more accurate reporting on arms exports in particular to the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), available to the public.
The Weapons Categorization Tool is available for download here or from the SEESAC Developed SALW Tools / Software section of the website. Instructions for opening and using the tool, if required, can be downloaded here.
Different international organizations use different categorizations of weapons, requiring licensing officers to command significant technical expertise and detailed knowledge of various categorization systems in order to accurately report on exports to various international bodies. This has led to discrepancies and misreporting on a global scale. During the 11th Regional Information Exchange Process meeting on Arms Exports, licensing officers from across the Western Balkan countries recognized this as a problem and requested assistance.
In turn, SEESAC developed a database of weapons common to the Western Balkans, which contains information necessary for accurate reporting such as: weapon name, photograph(s), description, as well as its categorization according to the UN, OSCE and, for future reference, ATT. The database is searchable and contains information on 270 weapons in English and BCMS. This was packaged into a software as the Weapons Categorization Tool.
Earlier this year, the Tool was integrated into the national record-keeping and reporting software of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. Now, SEESAC has made the Tool available as a stand-alone software to other countries interested in using it.
The Weapons Handbook Tool has been developed within SEESAC’s Arms Control Programme in the Western Balkans project, generously funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway since 2010.
Under the auspices of its Western Balkans Arms Transfers Control Programme SEESAC has been supporting the authorities of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as they work to further strengthen their national arms transfer control capacities. Arms Transfers Control Programme has contributed to a significant increase of transparency in arms transfers, as well as regional confidence building, knowledge transfer, and information sharing in the Western Balkans.