PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR 2001 SMALL ARMS CONFERENCE CONCLUDES FIRST SESSION, DEFERS DECISION ON DATE, VENUE

Press Release
DC/2687/Rev.1*

PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR 2001 SMALL ARMS CONFERENCE CONCLUDES FIRST SESSION, DEFERS DECISION ON DATE, VENUE

The Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects decided to defer its decision on the dates and venue of the Conference until the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly, as the Committee concluded its first session on Friday, 3 March.

It also decided to hold its second session from 8 to 19 January 2001 in New York at Headquarters, and the third from 19 to 30 March 2001. Kenya had offered to host the latter, and the Committee decided that the Secretariat would convey to the Kenyan delegation the financial implications of holding the third session in Nairobi, so that the General Assembly could take a decision at its next session. The Committee also decided to continue its consideration of the recommendations to the Conference on all relevant matters, including the objectives, a draft agenda, draft rules of procedure and draft final documents which will include a programme of action.

No decision was made by the Preparatory Committee on the modalities of attendance of non-governmental organizations at its sessions.

The Preparatory Committee adopted the report, as orally amended, of its first session which began on Monday, 28 February. The report contains decisions of, and recommendations made by, the Committee during the session.

In other action, the Preparatory Committee expanded the composition of its Bureau by electing Carlos Sorreta (Philippines) as a Vice-Chairman. Mark Gaillard (Canada) resigned his post as Rapporteur after having been elected earlier in the week but retained his position as Vice-Chairman. Therefore the Bureau of the Preparatory Committee currently consists of a Chairman and 24 Vice-Chairmen. Each of the five regional groups will be represented by five Vice-Chairmen when the Group of African States finalizes the endorsement of its fifth candidate.

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* Reissued for technical reasons.

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Highlights of Session

Most of the work of the Preparatory Committee during its five-day first session was devoted to an exchange of views on the dates and venues of the Committee's subsequent sessions, on the modalities of participation of NGOs in its sessions and on the possible scope of the Conference

During its general debate, a number of delegates pointed out that the 2001 Conference presented an opportunity to address the spread and abuse of small arms, which were often the sole tools of conflict in today’s wars and a major source of international insecurity. Some expressed the view that the illicit trade in and proliferation of small arms were the primary causes of violence and conflict in many regions and had hindered many development efforts by undermining investor interest and causing the flight of capital and human resources. The increase in drug trafficking was also linked to the illicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

On the scope of the Conference, several delegates suggested adopting a comprehensive approach. They held the view that the mandate of the Conference should cover a wide range of issues such as the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons; the legal trade in those weapons; the negative effects of widespread access to small arms on socio-economic development and human security; increased transparency in arms transfers; and the interrelationship between illicit trafficking, smuggling and the legal trade in small arms.

Some delegates upheld the right of State sovereignty and particularly the right of a State to develop its own defence system for its legitimate national security needs. They maintained that efforts to curb the illicit trade should not affect the legitimate rights of States to own, produce and transfer small arms, as they represented an indispensable means to safeguard national defence and domestic law and order. They felt the Conference should be a platform to formulate the means to combat and eradicate exclusively the illicit trade in small arms in all its aspects, not going, however, beyond the mandate given by the General Assembly.

Similarly, a number of delegates felt that such elements as economic and social development, and human rights standards of governments should not be discussed, as that could lead to an over-politicized debate and could put at risk any success in combating the illicit trade in small arms.

Other delegates maintained the Conference should take into account initiatives taken at regional, subregional and international levels to deal with the problems posed by illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. At the regional level, a number of organizations in the Americas, Europe, Southern Africa and West Africa have adopted initiatives to encourage the marking of weapons, storage and their collection and destruction. International initiatives include the recommendations contained in the reports of the Secretary-General prepared with the assistance of the Panel of Governmental Experts of Small Arms (A/52/298) and the Group of Governmental Experts on Small Arms (A/54/258). Delegates also referred to

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the negotiations currently under way in Vienna for a legally binding protocol on illicit firearms trafficking, supplementary to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

On the dates and venue of the Conference, a large number of delegates stressed the need for a venue that would allow for the broadest participation by States, particularly by countries directly affected by small arms and those with limited representation. The offer of Switzerland to host the Conference was welcomed by some delegates. They also expressed the need for civil society from both the North and South to participate in the preparatory process and in the Conference, including non-governmental organizations, particularly those relevant to disarmament issues, and more particularly, to the illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons.

A successful outcome of the Conference would be acceptance of a plan of action with a timetable for implementation, several delegates noted. Some of the elements highlighted in such a plan might include supply and demand; State responsibility; and developing agreed norms for the security and safe management of arms stockpiles being held by State authorities or State authorized entities.

Several delegates expressed the view that the final document of the Conference should include a political declaration setting out a framework for future cooperation and action. It should identify elements that would encourage future cooperation and facilitate regional action, such as information exchange, strengthening national laws and regulations, management of stockpiles and improvement in the system of tracing illicit arms flows.

Background of Committee

The Preparatory Committee, established by General Assembly resolution 54/54 V (15 December 1999), was requested to decide at its first session on the dates and venue of the 2001 Conference, as well as on the dates and venue of its subsequent sessions. The Committee was also requested to make recommendations to the Conference on all relevant matters, including the objective, a draft agenda, draft rules of procedure and draft final documents, which will include a programme of action, and to decide on background documents to be made available in advance of the Conference. It was also mandated to take a decision on the modalities of attendance by non-governmental organizations at its sessions.

Officers

The officers of the Preparatory Committee are: Chairman: Carlos dos Santos (Mozambique); Vice-Chairmen: Shen Guofang (China); Makmur Widodo (Indonesia); Hamid Baeidi Nejad (Islamic Republic of Iran); Mitsuro Donowaki (Japan); Luiz Filipe de Macedo Soares (Brazil); Juan Miguel Miranda (Peru); Richard Pierce (Jamaica); Nury Vargas (Costa Rica); Yahsar Aliyev (Azerbaijan); Alyaksandr Sychov (Belarus); Valeri Kuchynski (Ukraine): Dace Dobraja (Latvia); Samuel Insanally (Guyana); Denis Dangue Rewaka (Gabon); Alioune Diagne (Senegal); Ismail Khairat (Egypt); Fares Kuindwa (Kenya); Pierre Charasse (France); Mario Duarte (Portugal); Gunnar Lindeman (Norway); PrzemyslawWyganowski (Poland); Carlos Sorreta (Philippines); Mark Gaillard (Canada); and Herbert Calhoun (United States).

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