Presentation of the Unified Register of Weapons of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the EIS
On February 15-16, the First National Conference on Preventing and Combating the Illicit Traffic in Arms, Ammunition and Explosives in All Its Manifestations was held in the capital. The event was held within the framework of a joint project of the OSCE and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
The issues of consolidating efforts to promote the development of an effective system of arms control and counteraction against offenses related to weapons, ammunition and explosives were discussed.
“Today, Ukraine faces significant risks of illicit trafficking and uncontrolled internal circulation of weapons. This is associated with the supply of weapons to the occupied territories in the south and east of our country, as well as cases of distribution of small arms, ammunition and explosives from the demarcation line, weapons smuggling, processing of traumatic weapons into combat. Therefore, right now our state needs a strengthened response to the illegal circulation of weapons, ammunition and explosives on the basis of a strategic government approach,” said Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Sergey Goncharov.
Effective control of firearms, their most important components, ammunition, ammunition components, explosives and explosives blanks depends on keeping records of them.
Currently, for the first time since the independence of Ukraine, the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs approved the provision on the Unified Register of Weapons of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as a subsystem of the unified information system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Ministry team continues to actively work on its full launch and expansion of functionality.
“The purpose of firearms registration is to support the effective prevention and investigation of crimes. This can be effectively achieved through a single system, which will be the same for all ministries and departments, which updates information in real time and has a comprehensive menu for submitting requests. In this we are helped by our partners from the OSCE, as well as the Royal Horse Police of Canada, which provided our law enforcement officers with access to the Firearms Reference Table used by Interpol.” - said Sergey Goncharov.
The functioning of the Unified Register of Weapons of the EIS of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will ensure effective control of the entire cycle of use of weapons, transparency of the processes of licensing, granting permits, acquisition, possession, inspection and disposal. And the automation of information support processes in the sphere of circulation of weapons, objects and explosives, fixing the facts of their abduction and loss will make the corruption component in this sphere impossible.
In turn, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Igor Bondarenko noted that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and all law enforcement agencies are making great efforts to seize illegal firearms and reduce their illegal circulation, bringing to the best world practices the order of manufacture, purchase, storage, accounting, transportation the possession and use of firearms, as well as ammunition for weapons, main parts of weapons and explosives.
“For us, the legislative settlement of the procedure for the circulation of civilian weapons is a priority issue, since the effectiveness of legal regulation of arms circulation affects security not only in the interior of the country, but also in the whole region,” said Igor Bondarenko.
The Ministry initiates the creation of a dedicated Working Group to coordinate measures to combat the illicit trafficking of weapons, ammunition and explosives. In addition, in order to implement mechanisms of interdepartmental coordination at the national level on issues governing relations in the sphere of firearms circulation, the issue of creating a National Coordination Body is being studied, which may include representatives of law enforcement agencies, law enforcement agencies of other ministries and departments, non-governmental organizations and Citation.
An important aspect is also the introduction of the latest tools for interaction and exchange of information with foreign countries, international partners, organizations: INTERPOL, EUROPOL, EUROJUST, FRONTEX to strengthen the fight against cross-border crime in the field of illegal arms trafficking.
“Ukrainian law enforcement agencies receive from international colleagues expert knowledge, methodologies and the latest practices to strengthen the capabilities of the main elements of the system of combating illegal trafficking of weapons. We highly appreciate the support of our international partners and the consolidation of efforts and the provision of expert and technical assistance by donors of the OSCE program,” said Igor Bondarenko.
Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
