PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR SMALL ARMS CONFERENCE DECIDES ON RULES FOR NGO PARTICIPATION

Preparatory Committee for the

United Nations Conference on

 The Illicit Trade in Small Arms

 And Light Weapons in All Its Aspects

33^rd Meeting (PM)

PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR SMALL ARMS CONFERENCE

DECIDES ON RULES FOR NGO PARTICIPATION

The Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons continued its preparations for the Conference this afternoon by deciding on the rules for participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at Committee sessions.

The Conference, which will be held at Headquarters from 9 to 20 July, will be the first major international meeting on the issue of small arms and light weapons.  The Committee was established at the General Assembly’s fifty-fourth session to recommend draft final documents for the Conference and decide certain procedural issues.  Earlier preparatory sessions were held in early February 2000 and January 2001.  For this final session, the Committee began discussions with a revised Chairman’s working paper on the draft programme of action (A/CONF.192/PC/L.4/Rev.1).  (For complete background see Press Release DC/2756 of 16 March.)

By the terms of the decision (document A/CONF.192/PC/L.7/Rev.2), which was adopted without a vote, the Committee decided that attendance would be open to relevant NGOs in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council in accordance with the provisions of resolution 1996/31.

[According to resolution 1996/31, major organizations may be accorded consultative status by the Council if one of their primary purposes is to promote the objectives of the United Nations and an understanding of its work.]

By further terms, other NGOs would also be invited to attend, provided that requests to do so are submitted along with information about those organizations showing their relevance and competence regarding the scope and purpose of the Conference.  The Chairman of the Committee would subsequently provide the Committee with a list of those organizations for consideration on a no-objection basis.

According to the decision, representatives of such accredited NGOs would be allowed to address the Committee and the Conference during one meeting specifically allocated for that purpose.  They would also be provided, upon request, with documents related to the Conference.   They may, at their own

 expense, provide material to the delegations, outside the Conference room and in the area of the Committee meetings and the Conference. 

The text stressed that arrangements concerning the accreditation and attendance of NGOs at the Committee and the Conference should in no way create a precedent for other United Nations conferences.

The Committee will meet again tomorrow at 10 a.m. to continue its preparations for the Conference and to hear statements by NGOs.

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