ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s Interior Ministry announced the creation of a national database that consolidates information on government-owned weapons as well as arms that have been seized or confiscated, as the country joins an international weapons-tracking system.
“The Permanent National Committee for Weapons Regulation, as part of the government program, has begun its first phase by establishing a comprehensive database,” Major General Mansour Ali Sultan, rapporteur of the committee on state-owned weapons, told state media on Friday.
The ministry now “possesses a national database containing information on government-owned weapons and those that are periodically seized or confiscated,” he said, explaining that it operates “according to international standards, especially after Iraq became a member of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).”
“Iraq has, for the first time, become a member of the international weapons-tracking database, which allows for the tracing of stolen weapons inside and outside the country,” he added.
The government is also consolidating the file on government-owned arms. Civilian ministries had been authorized to purchase weapons since 2006, but the National Committee has since taken over this responsibility in coordination with the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, according to Sultan.
“During the current year, more than 42,237 medium and light weapons were withdrawn from all civilian ministries in Baghdad and the provinces,” he said.
Illegal weapons are a widespread problem in Iraq. An estimated eight million weapons are believed to be in circulation across the country and successive governments have struggled to bring them under control.
In May 2024, the government introduced a nationwide buyback initiative, allocating one billion dinars (about $764,000) to each province to purchase unregistered firearms from the public.