PRESS CONFERENCE ON SMALL ARMS MEETING

The issue of small arms and light weapons was a multidimensional one that should be tackled through global and regional harmonization, as well as by national initiatives, Ambassador Kuniko Inoguchi of Japan said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

She said it must be dealt with in all its thematic aspects, such as collection and destruction of weapons, capacity-building, import-export controls, eradicating illicit brokering, institution-building, and establishing national focal points and commissions to cope with different situations in various countries.

Ms. Inoguchi was briefing correspondents in her capacity as Chair-designate of the upcoming First Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.  The week-long meeting will be held at Headquarters from 7 to 11 July.

One of the meeting’s aims would be to show the various areas of disarmament where multilateral approaches could function very well.  It would be the first opportunity for Member States to assess comprehensively the level to which the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons had been implemented since it was negotiated two years ago.  States would be able to discuss lessons learned and best practices for better implementation.

Noting that small arms and light weapons were responsible for 500,000 conflict-related deaths a year –- more than 1,000 a day -– she said that anti-personnel landmines caused 20,000 casualties annually.  Given the gravity and intensity of the problem, it was important to mainstream the small arms issue.

Asked about the obvious failures of disarmament in West Africa and Afghanistan, Ms. Inoguchi said she could not prejudge the upcoming debate.  However, the meeting would focus on assessing why regional harmonization schemes had failed in those two cases.

In reply to a question about the number of injuries caused by small arms, she said they were 100 times the 500,000 deaths, but there were no exact statistics.

Asked about the dollar value of the trade in small arms, Ms. Inoguchi replied that the illicit trade was said to amount to $1 billion.  In order to eradicate the illicit trade, it was necessary to have strong control over the legal side because very often the sources of both were the same.  The meeting would focus on determining where the authorized trade diverged into the illicit trade due to, among other reasons, poor stockpile management and illicit brokering.

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