First biennial meeting on UN plan to end illicit small arms trade to open Monday

Beginning next week, government representatives will gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York for the first-ever international meeting to consider implementation of the world body’s Action Plan for eradicating the illicit small arms trade.

The 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 kicks off Monday and will run through 11 July.

The meeting is a major part of the follow-up process to the 2001UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, which adopted the Programme of Action. The follow-up process also provides for a review conference to be held no later than 2006.

The 2001 Conference succeeded in placing the issue –- which Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called a “global scourge” -- on the international agenda. Small arms and light weapons kill more than half a million people each year –- including 300,000 in armed conflict and 200,000 from homicides and suicides -- of which 90 per cent are civilians. In the 1990s, small arms were the weapons of choice in 47 of 49 major conflicts.

The Programme of Action identifies national, regional and global measures, including: legislation on illegal manufacturing, possession, stockpiling and trade in small arms; stockpile management and destruction of weapons confiscated, seized, or collected; identification and tracing of the illicit arms; international cooperation and assistance to States to strengthen their ability to identify and trace the illicit weapons; and public awareness campaigns.

Earlier today at UN Headquarters, Ambassador Kuniko Inoguchi of Japan briefed correspondents in her capacity as Chair-designate of the upcoming Conference. She stressed that the issue of small arms and light weapons was multidimensional, and that should be tackled through global and regional harmonization, as well as by national initiatives.

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