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Disarmament won't work without addressing causes of poverty, UNDP head says

Disarmament won't work without addressing causes of poverty, UNDP head says

Efforts at lasting disarmament will not be successful without addressing the root causes of poverty and providing real opportunities to the poor, the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) told a UN conference on the illegal trade of small arms and weapons today.

"Conflicts have multiple causes," said UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown, "but in the developing world they are nearly always exacerbated or fuelled by some combination of poverty, discrimination and the inability of governments to provide basic human security for their citizens. And when the rule of law is replaced by the barrel of a gun, there is little opportunity to recover and rebuild."

Mr. Malloch Brown was the last speaker of the day as the first week of the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects drew to a close. Some 30 delegations took the floor on the last day of the Ministerial segment of the Conference.

On Monday, delegates in New York are scheduled to take up behind closed doors a revised draft of the Programme of Action, which will serve as a framework for international cooperation to curb the illicit arms trade.