UN Chronicle | A Call against Arms: The Small Arms Conference

A Call against Arms:
The Small Arms Conference

Photo/Thomas Tolstrup

War today does not have to be high-tech. Jet bombers or fighters armed with stealth technology and smart bombs need not fly overhead. Armoured tanks and personnel carriers, night vision goggles and global positioning technology are all “non-essential”. In reality, a few truckloads of cheap automatic weapons and a handful of light mortars are all a small group of fighters need to rain ruin on a small country, not only impacting the lives of millions of people but also endangering international peace and security.

Of the 49 major conflicts fought during the 1990s, small arms were the weapons of choice in all but three. A best-guess estimate puts the total of small arms and light weapons in the world at more than 500 million, of which between 40 and 60 per cent are illicit. Of the 4 million war-related deaths during that decade, 90 per cent were civilians - 80 per cent of those women and children. Tens of millions more lost livelihoods, homes and family, because of the indiscriminate and pervasive use of these weapons.

One of the major problems connected with such weapons is their easy and widespread availability in many parts of the world. They are cheap, lethal, portable, concealable, long lasting and so easy to operate that pre-teenagers can - and do - use them in combat. They are illicitly trafficked in exchange for hard currency and goods, such as diamonds and other precious gems, drugs and related contraband. Armed gangs, criminals, mercenaries and terrorist groups illegally traffic and use these weapons.

The international community has come to recognize that the excessive accumulation and illicit trafficking of those weapons are a global threat to peace and security. Small arms fuel conflicts and pose serious danger to innocent civilians, as well as to humanitarian workers and peacekeepers. Concerted action to end this scourge is more important than ever.

Faced with the death and devastation caused by the flood of small arms and light weapons, the international community has begun to look for new global measures to combat their excessive and destabilizing accumulation. That is why the General Assembly in December 1999 decided to convene a conference on the illicit trade in small arms. First proposed in 1997 by a panel of governmental small arms experts, the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects took place from 9 to 20 July 2001 in New York, and a consensus programme of action was adopted.

The 86-paragraph comprehensive document contains unprecedented political commitments and concrete measures at the national, regional and global levels to tackle the pernicious illegal trade in small arms. It also contains provisions on enhancing cooperation among States and providing assistance to affected States, as well as on a follow-up mechanism to oversee its implementation and further development.

Last-minute negotiations prolonged the Conference an extra day over two issues, which in the end were not included in the programme of action. Agreement could not be reached on a provision that would encourage States to establish or maintain, subject to respective constitutional or legal systems, regulations on the ownership of small arms and light weapons. Furthermore, no agreement was reached that would have expressed a collective belief that States should only transfer such weapons to other Governments, that is, not to non-State actors.

The President of the Conference, Camilo Reyes Rodriguez of Colombia, said that the international community had taken a significant step forward in addressing one of the most urgent problems facing world peace and security today: the tragedy of the uncontrolled spread of small arms and light weapons.

Photo/Tomas Masironico
To prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons (SALW), State participants in the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Lights Weapons in All Its Aspects adopted a wide range of political undertakings. They undertook, among others, to:

At the national level
put in place adequate laws, regulations and administrative procedures to exercise effective control over the production of SALW and the export, import, transit or retransfer of such weapons; identify and take action, under appropriate national law, against groups and individuals engaged in the illegal manufacture, trade, stockpiling, transfer, possession, as well as financing for acquisition, of illicit SALW;

ensure that licensed manufacturers apply appropriate and reliable marking on each SALW as an integral part of the production process;

ensure that comprehensive and accurate records are kept on the manufacture, holding and transfer of SALW under its jurisdiction, and ensure responsibility for all SALW held and issued by the State, and effective measures for tracing such weapons;

implement adequate laws, regulations and administrative procedures to ensure the effective control over the export and transit of SALW, including the use of authenticated end-user certificates;

make every effort, without prejudice to the right of States to re-export SALW that they have previously imported, to notify the original exporting State, in accordance with their bilateral agreements before the re-transfer;

develop adequate national legislation or administrative procedures regulating the activities of those who engage in SALW brokering;

take appropriate measures against any activity that violates a United Nations Security Council arms embargo;

ensure that confiscated, seized or collected SALW are destroyed;

ensure that armed forces, police and any others authorized to hold SALW establish adequate and detailed standards and procedures relating to the management and security of their stocks;

develop and implement, where possible, effective disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes;

address the special needs of children affected by armed conflict.
At the regional level
encourage regional negotiations for the purpose of concluding relevant legally binding instruments aimed at preventing, combating and eradicating the illicit trade in SALW and, where they do exist, to ratify and fully implement them;

encourage the strengthening and establishment of moratoria or similar initiatives on the transfer and manufacture of SALW in affected regions or sub-regions;

establish mechanisms, in particular trans-border customs cooperation and networks for information-sharing among law enforcement, and border and customs control agencies;

encourage regions to develop measures to enhance transparency to combat the illicit trade in SALW.
At the global level
cooperate with the United Nations system to ensure the effective implementation of arms embargoes decided by the Security Council;

encourage disarmament and demobilization of ex-combatants and their reintegration into civilian life;

encourage States and the World Customs Organization to enhance cooperation with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to identify those groups and individuals engaged in the illicit trade in SALW in all its aspects;

encourage international and regional organizations and States to facilitate the appropriate cooperation of civil society, including non-governmental organizations, in activities related to the prevention, combat and eradication of the illicit trade in SALW;

promote a dialogue and a culture of peace through education and public awareness programmes on the problems of the illicit trade in SALW.