Preparatory Committee for the

United Nations Conference on

 The Illicit Trade in Small Arms

 And Light Weapons in All its Aspects

28^th Meeting (AM)

PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR JULY SMALL ARMS CONFERENCE

OPENS THIRD SESSION AT HEADQUARTERS

The Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects began its third and final session this morning at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

During the current session, scheduled from 19 to 30 March, participants are expected to finalize proposals to combat a problem that the Secretary-General has called "one of the gravest threats to international peace and security in the new millennium".  The Conference which will be held in New York from 9 to 20 July, will address the pressing need to end the human suffering caused by the proliferation of small weapons, while, at the same time, preserving the sovereign right of States to safeguard their national security.

Chairman of the Committee, Carlos dos Santos (Mozambique) charged  participants to the session to produce the necessary substantive and procedural recommendations.  In that effort, the greatest challenge would be the draft programme of action.  Introducing the briefings that followed, he said that important developments had occurred since the second session of the Preparatory Committee, including the conclusion of negotiations, in Vienna, on the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition.  A study on arms brokering had also been issued.

In one of several presentations this morning, Christopher Ram, of the United Nations Office in Vienna, said work on the Protocol on firearms, was concluded by the Ad Hoc Committee on 2 March.  The Protocol was currently being drafted and translated and its articles were being renumbered.  The final document would be transmitted sometime over the next several weeks to the General Assembly for adoption.  It would be opened for signature at United Nations Headquarters 30 days after adoption.  He said the Protocol was not a complete instrument.  Any area outside of its sphere of responsibility would have to be looked for in its parent, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

Peggy Mason (Canada), Chairman of the Group of Governmental Experts, presented the final report of the Group on the feasibility of restricting the manufacture and trade of small arms and light weapons to the manufacturers and dealers authorized by States.  While small arms and light weapons did not create conflicts, they exacerbated them, she said.  Since there were legitimate defence

uses for those weapons, they would be produced and traded.  States, however, should ensure that they had sufficient laws in place to restrict the manufacture and trade of those weapons to legal uses, and that those laws were well coordinated in the international context.

Kate Joseph, Conflict and Prevention Centre, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), shared the experience of her organization in adopting the Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons of 24 November 2000.  The norms, principles and measures in the Document were meant to be broad and comprehensive, with the goal of combating illicit trafficking, preventing and reducing destabilizing accumulations of the weapons, and limiting their spread.  In considering the OSCE document, she hoped that the measures recommended in such regional efforts would play an important role in international efforts to combat and control the spread of small arms and light weapons.

Namibia's representative, speaking on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), said the Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons, created by the SADC Council of Ministers, had adopted the Declaration Concerning Firearms, Ammunition and other Related Materials in the Southern African Development Community.  That Declaration had a striking resemblance to the Preparatory Committee's draft programme of action and he requested that it be circulated as an official document of the Committee.  "We in SADC intend to take all measures to combat the proliferation of and trafficking in small arms, which poses a serious threat to our development, consolidation of democracy and good governance", he said.

Canada's representative said that although prices were at an historic low, the social, economic and political cost of small arms was at an all time high.  Scarce government funds were diverted, natural resources mortgaged and relief supplies often stolen to finance purchases.  The message was clear -- the time had come for the international community to act decisively.  "We must develop an integrated, comprehensive and, above all, effective response -- in countries of supply and countries of conflict -- among buyers, sellers and international brokers and involving governments, international and NGOs and civil society", he urged.

The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to hear presentations by delegations on the proposed draft programme of action.

Background

The Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects met this morning to open its third session and begin finalizing preparations for the Conference, which will take place 9 to 20 July in New York.  [For background information, see Press Release DC/2756 of 16 March.]

Statements

CARLOS DOS SANTOS (Mozambique), Chairman of the Preparatory Committee, welcomed participants to the session, charging them to produce the necessary substantive and procedural recommendations in the following weeks.  In that effort, the greatest challenge would be the draft programme of action.

Reviewing activity that had taken place since the second session, he noted the release of a version of that draft programme, and seminars which he attended concerning the issue of small arms, in London and Geneva.  He had also continued consultations on the issue at various levels, and had met with three candidates and their delegations on the issue of the presidency of the Conference.  Among his consultations were those on the important issue of non-governmental organizations and those with the Office of the President of the General Assembly.  As the Committee had recommended, he had issued invitations to regional organizations to brief the Preparatory Committee along with relevant United Nations agencies.

During the interim period, important developments had occurred, he said.  Negotiations were concluded in Vienna on the Protocol on firearms and the study on brokering.  The Preparatory Committee would be briefed on those processes, which were complementary to the one at hand.  Finally, he reported on efforts to make it possible for the Conference to be at the ministerial level.

He then considered the programme of work for the next two weeks, including a number of briefings by a number of interested, invited organizations.  Non-governmental organizations would make statements on the morning of 23 March, pending decisions on their participation in the Conference.  Finalizing the draft programme of action would take up much of the rest of the schedule.

Not hearing any objections, it was decided that the Committee would proceed along the lines he had outlined. 

He then introduced the first experts, to give briefings.

CHRISTOPHER RAM, of the United Nations Office in Vienna, addressing delegations on the status of the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, said work on the instrument was concluded by the Ad Hoc Committee on 2 March and it was currently being drafted and translated and its articles renumbered.  The final document would be transmitted sometime over the next several weeks to the General Assembly for adoption.  It would be opened for signature at United Nations Headquarters 30 days after adoption. 

He said the Protocol was not a complete instrument and any area outside of its sphere of responsibility would have to be looked for in its parent, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.  It would also have to be interpreted with the parent instrument.  The specific purpose of this particular Protocol was to control trafficking in firearms and supplement the parent Convention.  It would standardize terminology, laws and practices, enhance the effectiveness of firearms tracing, prevent the diversion of firearms and foster international cooperation against the illicit manufacturing and trafficking of firearms.  In short, if the import and export of arms was not authorized by a State, then it was a criminal act.  Essentially, the Protocol would address the actions of individuals and required States parties to create crimes if trafficking was carried out outside of security measures and import/export procedures. 

He said according to the Protocol, a firearm was a barrelled weapon that could expel a shot, bullet or projectile through the action of an explosive; was portable; and was not an antique made before 1900.

PEGGY MASON (Canada), Chair of the Group of Governmental Experts, presented the final report of the Group on the feasibility of restricting the manufacture and trade of small arms and light weapons to the manufacturers and dealers authorized by States.  The study included the efforts of governmental experts from 20 countries.  She expressed her appreciation to the governments involved. 

She described the Group’s working methodology, which sought to identify existing and current approaches, evaluating all options for reducing the illicit arms trade.  There was no list of recommendations per se, but the evaluated options were presented to speak for themselves.  It built on a number of previous reports, she said.

Small arms and light weapons did not create conflicts around the world, but did serve to exacerbate them, she said.  Since there were legitimate defence uses for those weapons, they would be produced and traded.  However, States should ensure that they had sufficient laws in place to restrict the manufacture and trade of those weapons to legal uses.  In addition to the review of existing and proposed regulations in that regard, she advocated further review of case studies as a follow-up. 

Customs authorities were particularly important in arms control, she said.  On a broader level, State and State-authorized dealers should be required to keep complete export records and mark their wares.  There was also a great need to improve and cross-reference documentation.

Arms-brokering, she said, was an intrinsic part of the legal trade.  However, brokering activities often took advantage of gray areas and gaps in regulations, so that weapons wound up in illicit areas.  International and national regulations were needed to improve control over broker activities.  Such regulations could include licensing regimes, proposals for which were reviewed by the report.  The areas of transportation and financing, in the brokering of arms, were particularly difficult to deal with, and proposals of regulations or codes of conduct were reviewed for those aspects. 

In such regulation, consistency between varied national controls was urged.  The report realized the difficulty of having uniform, binding legal instruments among various States.  However, minimum standards for such regulation and complementary norms were essential for their effectiveness.

KATE JOSEPH, Conflict Prevention Centre, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), shared the experience of the OSCE in adopting its Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons of 24 November 2000.  The norms, principles and measures in its Document were meant to be broad and comprehensive, with the goal of:  combating illicit trafficking; preventing and reducing destabilizing accumulations of weapons; and limiting their spread.

Describing some distinctive features of the Document, she noted that it contained a commitment to standards of marking and record-keeping that specified that all weapons would be marked in such a way as to allow investigating authorities to determine, at a minimum, the year and country of manufacture, the manufacturer and the weapon’s serial number.  The document also included agreements on a number of criteria to guide arms export decisions, taking into consideration such factors as human rights and other measures of the effects of arms trading and accumulation. 

The OSCE participating States, she said, also developed detailed standards for export, import and transit procedures and agreed on recommendations for control over international arms-broking activities.  Recognizing that the reduction of surplus arms stockpiles were important, they also committed themselves to destruction as the preferred method of disposal of small arms.  Most of the measures in the Document would be implemented at the national level; however, information exchanges in essential areas were agreed upon. 

A section of the Document dealing with small arms measures as integral to conflict prevention, peacekeeping, and post-conflict rehabilitation, was also worthy of consideration, she said.  In considering the OSCE Document, she hoped that such regional efforts would play an important role in international efforts to combat and control the spread of small arms and light weapons.

MARTIN ANDJABA (Namibia) spoke on behalf the Southern African Development Community (SADC):  Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe . 

He said his region was one of those where the proliferation and illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons represented a very serious threat to development and social tranquility.  In 1999, the SADC Council of Ministers mainstreamed the issue into the Community's agenda.  A working group was created to initiate policies and programmes for regional implementation and the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (SARPCCO) was mandated as the implementing organ of related SADC policies and strategies.

He said that in 2000 the SADC Council of Ministers created a full Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons, which was mandated to draft a strong, forward-looking declaration containing an unequivocal commitment of the Community's member States to halt the proliferation of those weapons.  In March, in Windhoek, Namibia, the Committee adopted the Declaration Concerning Firearms, Ammunition and other Related Materials in the Southern African Development Community.

He said the Declaration had a striking resemblance to the Preparatory Committee's Draft Programme of Action.  He requested that the Declaration be circulated as an official document of the Preparatory Committee.  "We in SADC intend to take all measures to combat the proliferation of and trafficking in small arms, which poses a serious threat to our development, consolidation of democracy and good governance", he said.  In that regard, the Council of Ministers was in the process of completing a Protocol on Firearms, Ammunition and other Related Materials that also included an implementation programme.  That protocol was expected to be adopted in August.  In conclusion, he said that his regional groups strongly supported the draft programme of action.

ROBERT MC DOUGALL (Canada), responding to the presentation by the Chair of the Group of Governmental Experts, said he trusted that the Experts' report  would act as a catalyst to place the important issue of brokering on the international small arms agenda and firmly in the plan of action.  The Group had produced a substantial and well-considered report that would propel the work of the Preparatory Committee in one direction -- towards greater efforts in preventing the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.  That report was an invaluable background document for all States participating in the preparatory process.

He said that although prices were at an historic low, the social, economic and political cost of small arms and light weapons sales was at an all time high.  Scarce government funds were diverted, natural resources mortgaged and relief supplies often stolen to finance purchases.  Those weapons inflicted an enormous toll in human suffering.  The message was unmistakably clear -- the time had come for the international community to act decisively.  "We must develop an integrated, comprehensive and, above all, effective response -- in countries of supply and countries of conflict -- among buyers, sellers and international brokers -- and involving governments, international and NGOs and civil society", he said.

He said the report before the Committee argued convincingly that export, import, transit and end use controls were the essential foundation for ensuring State accountability for small arms transfers.  It demonstrated that additional measures should be carefully considered by States to ensure that an integral part of the legal and illicit trade  -- arms brokers -- were brought fully under government control.

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