THE HALO TRUST has begun operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) marking and registering weapons under a project financially supported by the government of Germany. The project aims to improve the safety and security of BiH by making it easier to track and trace the stock of military weapons in the country.
The operation started after extensive preparation in cooperation with EUFOR, the EU stabilisation force in BiH, the BiH Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations (MOFTER) and the armed forces. Preparations included training the local military staff who make up the weapons marking team, and are in charge of conducting marking and registration activities.
On the first day of the project, the team marked and registered the first 20 pieces and is eager to grow the project.
Ownership of registered and unregistered small arms is so common across the Western Balkans as to be a cause for concern. This project seeks to tackle part of the issue by improving the capacity of the BiH national authorities to manage, account and track their stock of weapons through the introduction of a weapons marking and management system. By the end of the project all the armed forces of BiH's small arms light weapons will have been quality checked, registered and marked to international standards.
