PRESS CONFERENCE ON SMALL ARMS BY FRENCH MINISTER

France and Switzerland are promoting the idea of a mechanism that would enable small arms and light weapons to be traced, the Minister-Delegate for Cooperation and Francophonie of France, Charles Josselin, told a Headquarters press conference this morning.

He said they were ready to work with others on the initiative which would help track, trace and identify supply routes of those weapons in a cooperative and confidential manner.  He recalled that he had dealt with the subject of markings of small arms in an address to the Security Council in 1999.

He was addressing the press on the views of his Government on the United Nations Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, which began at Headquarters last Monday and is scheduled to end next Friday (20 July).

Mr. Josselin said that even if there was “no convention right away”, France and Switzerland would continue to work on the mechanism of information exchange on the subject.  Other interested countries could join them, he added.

On the question of markings, he said France would be satisfied if all manufacturers accepted the principle of making it possible for weapons produced by them to be identified.  It was not a new system being imposed upon them.  The principle was to make it possible for the weapons to be identified and their origin or source traced.

Responding to questions, the French Minister said the Conference was not intended to prohibit the possession of light weapons, but rather to control the traffic, particularly the illicit trafficking in such arms.

He said the United States delegation had been informed that the proposed convention was not aimed at prohibiting Americans from possessing arms.  “The question of possession of arms by Americans is a matter that concerns only the Americans.  It is up to them to decide, when all is said and done, whether today’s situation is favourable or unfavourable to the safety and security of Americans themselves.”

He said the proposed convention had nothing to do with the issue of personal possession of arms, but dealt with the control of trade in them.  He hoped the issue could be cleared up “so that we can go forward with the negotiations”.

The programme of action they were advocating would have States agree among themselves on the objective of controlling and checking the trafficking and trade in small arms in order to avoid their excessive accumulation, proliferation and improper use.  From those shared objectives, States would cooperate to work towards attaining that goal.

Earlier, he said France was very much committed to the fight against the proliferation and the trafficking in small arms and light weapons.  He hoped the Conference would bring about the results expected of it.  The Conference had already sparked an awareness that, he hoped, would continue to produce the desired effect in all countries, including the country where it was being held.

France had not waited until the Conference to have in place a strong policy on the issue.  It had had a very open, transparent policy about the trafficking in small arms.  It had made “extraordinary progress” in the last few years on that question.

Together with its European partners, a European code of good conduct in trade in small weapons, including light weapons, had been established.  They were supporting the initiative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on their moratorium on the export of small arms and light weapons.

If the Conference did not produce the programme of action they expected, he said France, together with its European partners, would continue, along with

like-minded countries, to move forward with information exchanges and cooperation to bring about an end to the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.

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