ISRAEL

1. The UN Register of Conventional Arms is becoming an important source of authoritative information covering a large volume of international trade in major conventional arms. It is the only intergovernmental United Nations mechanism that addresses the issue of conventional armaments on a global basis.

2. In Israel's view, the Register is part and product of a larger step-by-step building-block arms control process and approach which intends to contribute to a more comprehensive system of security among states, a system characterized by mutual trust, confidence and partnership.

3. However, the Register cannot achieve its objectives as long as participation in reporting to the Register remains unsatisfactory, with only about 70 States now consistently providing reports and certain regions almost entirely absent.

4. Of all countries in the Middle East region, for example, only Israel has submitted its replies to the Register on a continuous annual basis since 1993, while nine States have never replied.

5. It is therefore Israel's view that the Register still has to withstand the test of time, to attract a much larger participation and to consolidate the existing categories before further development of the Register or major changes can be considered.

6. Israel, especially, believes that a favourable attitude on the part of many more States in the Middle East towards the Register is highly desirable and regrets that most Governments in the Middle East region have elected so far not to participate in the Register.

(In its capacity as Chairman of the Arab Group for the month of September 1997, submitted the consolidated reply of the States members of the League of Arab States)

1. The States members of the League of Arab States fully support the cause of transparency in armaments as a means for enhancing international peace and security and believe that, in order to be successful, any transparency mechanism must be guided by certain basic principles: it must be balanced, comprehensive and non-discriminatory, and it must enhance the national, regional and international security of all States in conformity with international law.

2. The United Nations Register of Conventional Arms represents a long overdue first attempt by the international community at addressing the transparency issue on a global scale. Despite the fact that the Register's potential value as a global confidence-building measure and early warning mechanism cannot be questioned, it has encountered a number of problems. Most noticeably, approximately half the States Members of the United Nations have consistently refrained from submitting data to the Register. Thus, the States members of the Arab League are of the view that it is necessary to address effectively the concerns of those States so as to ensure universal participation in the Register.

3. In this context, the States members of the Arab League are of the view that the scope of the Register must be expanded, particularly as the experience of the past years has shown that the Register, which is limited to seven categories of conventional arms, will not attract universal participation. Numerous States, including the members of the League, do not consider that the Register, given its present and limited scope, adequately meets their security needs. The future success of the Register is therefore contingent upon the willingness of the members of the international community to engage in more transparency and to build more confidence. In our view, and as envisaged in the Register's founding resolution (General Assembly resolution 46/36 L), an expanded Register including data on advanced conventional weapons, on weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, and on high technology with military applications would represent a more balanced, more comprehensive, and less discriminatory instrument attracting a larger number of regular participants.

4. The Middle East Region represents a case in point, where the qualitative imbalance in terms of armaments is so striking and where transparency and confidence can only come about if approached in a balanced and comprehensive way. Applying transparency in the Middle East region to seven categories of conventional weapons, while ignoring more advanced, more sophisticated or more lethal armaments, such as weapons of mass destruction, is an approach that is neither balanced nor comprehensive. It will not lead to the desired results, particularly as the Register does not take into consideration the existing situation in the Middle East, where Israel continues its occupation of the Arab territories and its possession of the most lethal weapons of mass destruction and continues to be the only State in the region that is not yet party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and persists in defying repeated calls by the international community to become party to the Treaty and to place all its unsafeguarded nuclear facilities under full-scope International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.

(On behalf of the European Union and the associated countries Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, as well as of Norway and Iceland)

1. All states have the inherent right to self-defence, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, and consequently the right to acquire arms for their security, including from outside sources. However, the increased international attention to, and importance of, transparency of transfers and possession of conventional arms are justified by the fact that these conventional arms cause serious human suffering in international and internal conflicts and are not subject to legal regimes in many parts of the world.

2. The European Union remains convinced that transparency in armaments is an important factor in creating a climate of confidence between States, particularly at the regional level.

3. In the opinion of the European Union the United Nations Register is an important mechanism because it provides data on international arms transfers of those categories of conventional arms that are particularly suited to offensive purposes and surprise attacks and are therefore potentially destabilizing when accumulated excessively. In each of the four years of the existence of the Register, about 90 states, including all members of the European Union, submitted national declarations. Moreover, 134 states have reported at least once to the Register since its inception in 1992. These declarations covered the bulk of the arms trade between States.

4. In order to enhance the effectiveness of the Register as a global confidence-building measure, every effort should be made to secure the widest possible participation. The European Union encourages all United Nations Member States to submit their national data to the Register in the coming years. In this respect, the European Union would like to emphasize that even "nil reports" are an important contribution to the success of the Register. Furthermore, the promotion of an increased and wider knowledge of the Register should be seen as an important means to strengthen public support for it.

5. The European Union believes that the inclusion of data on military holdings and procurement through national production will render the Register more complete and useful. Therefore, the European Union invites United Nations Member States to submit such data. To maximize the accessibility of this information, the European Union suggests that such information be provided in the standardized form applicable to transfers.

6. In order to ensure that the Register responds to evolving security needs, it is important that its operation be regularly reviewed. The European Union therefore welcomes the current review of the continuing operation of the Register and its further development by the Secretary-General with the assistance of a group of governmental experts, in accordance with operative paragraph 3(b) of resolution 51/45H. The European Union expresses the hope that all States will contribute to the success of this review, which should result in a report to be presented to the General Assembly at its fifty-second session.

7. In conformity with the request embodied in General Assembly resolutions over the years concerning transparency in armaments, the Conference on Disarmament has devoted two sessions to discussing possible ways and means of enhancing transparency in armaments in its Ad Hoc Committee on transparency in armaments. Although the Conference on Disarmament has not yet reached agreement on specific measures of recommendations for enhancing transparency in armaments, a better understanding of these issues appears to have emerged. It is for this reason that the European Union attaches considerable importance to the resumption of the work in the Ad Hoc Committee.

8. The European Union would like to emphasize that transparency measures related to weapons of mass destruction are, for various reasons, of a different nature than transparency measures related to conventional weapons. To enhance confidence and stability, transparency measures with regard to weapons of mass destruction should be an element in the arms control and disarmament process.

9. The European Union welcomes the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention on 29 April 1997 and works actively towards its universal adherence. The objective of the European Union is full implementation of the bans on chemical weapons as well as on biological and toxin weapons. Transparency measures can be a step towards that goal. In this respect, reference can be made to the obligations contained in the Convention to declare stocks of chemical weapons and chemical weapon production facilities immediately after entry into force. In the framework of the Biological Weapons Convention the European Union supports the work under way in the ad hoc group on strengthening the convention. The European Union believes the addition of a legally binding verification protocol will increase transparency and strengthen confidence in compliance with the convention.

10. The European Union member States reaffirm, in conformity with article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, their commitment to pursue in good faith negotiations on effective measures relating to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control. The agreement on a universal and effective verifiable Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in the fall of 1996 was a concrete step in the implementation of the Principles and Objectives for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament adopted on 11 May by the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The Republic of Macedonia is continually supporting all activities of the international community, and especially those of the United Nations for a greater transparency in production, stockpiling and trading of conventional arms. The United Nations Register of Conventional Arms contributes greatly to that end.