SYMPOSIUM ON GLOBAL ARMS INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS RESTRUCTURING AND NEW THREATS
Press Release
DC/2714
SYMPOSIUM ON GLOBAL ARMS INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS RESTRUCTURING AND NEW THREATS
20000626New York, 21 June (Department for Disarmament Affairs) - Arms experts from industry and private arms control groups met on Wednesday at the United Nations to assess the international threats posed by developments in the small arms and light weapons industry after the end of the cold war. The symposium, entitled Restructuring the Global Arms Trade and Its Implications, highlighted the challenges facing the United Nations in addressing these threats, as it prepares for the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects in 2001.
The event was jointly organized by the United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs, Economists Allied for Arms Reduction, and the World Policy Institute. Joao Honwana, Chief of the Conventional Arms Branch in the Department for Disarmament Affairs, opened the meeting, and David Gold, a former Senior Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs, was the moderator of the group. Panellists included Natalie Goldring from the Program on Disarmament of the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland; William Hartung of the World Policy Institute; Joel Johnson, Vice-President of the International Aerospace Industries Association; and Janne Nolan of the Century Foundation.
The panellists agreed that modern weapons are increasingly dependent upon technology with dual military/civilian uses. They could not agree, however, on the implications of this trend for the industry and for international peace and security. They discussed recent data indicating that global military expenditures were growing, after a decade of decline, along with the duration and severity of internal wars. All agreed that future efforts to regulate the arms industry must address the political, military, and economic aspects of this trade.
Natalie Goldring stated that the international trade in weapons cannot be divided between the trade in light weapons and the trade in major conventional weapons such as tanks and aircraft. Combatants using light weapons tend to be reinforced by the major conventional weapons in times of conflict. Members of the panel also stated that the legal trade, as well as the illegal trade, in weapons must be considered when dealing with the issue, because often legal weapons end up in the illicit market due in part to their long life-cycle and affordability.
The sponsors of the symposium are planning a publication of the event which will be made available on the homepage of the Conventional Arms Branch of the Department for Disarmament Affairs (.
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