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"Biting the Bullet" Briefing 1
The UN 2001 Conference: Setting the Agenda
By Owen Greene with Elizabeth Clegg, Sarah Meek and Geraldine
O'Callaghan
Content
1. Introduction
2. Scope of the Conference
3. Conference Objective: An International
Action Programme
4. Establishing Norms, Standards and
Mechanisms
5. Issues for Specific
Agreement
6. Emerging Issues for the International
Action Programme
7. Conclusions
1. Introduction
The United Nations will convene the 'UN Conference on the
Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects'
in June/July 2001.1 The 2001 Conference is now
the primary focus for international efforts to strengthen
and develop co-ordinated and comprehensive global action to
prevent and reduce the proliferation and misuse of small arms
and light weapons. A powerful international coalition of States,
international organizations and civil society groups is uniting
to promote effective global action. Expectations for the 2001
Conference are high and public awareness of the opportunities
it offers is growing. it is critical that the 2001 Conference
is a success.
The 2001 Conference must achieve agreement on an effective
International Action Programme to prevent and reduce small
arms and light weapons proliferation and combat illicit trafficking
in such weapons. This International Action Programme should
reinforce, co-ordinate and extend measures being taken at
local, national and regional levels. In addition to establishing
an appropriate set of international norms and standards, the
2001 Conference should achieve agreement on specific international
action on the problems associated with small arms and light
weapons.
The specific objectives of the 2001 Conference are currently
undecided. This paper, the first in a series of briefings,
outlines a proposed scope for the Conference. It further proposes
concrete objectives and practical agreements which could be
achieved during the Conference. It is hoped that the proposals
and recommendations presented will contribute to efforts to
secure a comprehensive and progressive framework for the Conference.
2. Scope of the Conference
Preparations for the 2001 Conference take place in the context
of increasing international concern about the human suffering
and insecurity caused by the excessive availability and misuse
of small arms and light weapons.2 Large accumulations
and flows of such weapons - both legal and illegal - have
had many negative consequences, including destabilizing regions;
escalating, intensifying or prolonging conflicts; impeding
peace operations and humanitarian assistance; obstructing
post-conflict reconstruction and development; and contributing
to banditry, crime and social violence. Reflecting the complexity
of the problem, there is a growing international consensus
that a comprehensive set of control and reduction measures
is required to effectively combat the complex challenges posed
by these weapons.
Addressing the small arms problem
While governments and civil society in many regions have begun
to address the problems caused by the proliferation and misuse
of light weapons, there is a need for much greater international
co-ordination of these efforts. Some States have adopted national
measures, such as strengthened controls on transfers of small
arms, others have embarked upon programmes to collect and
destroy surplus small arms. At regional level, a number of
organizations in the Americas, Southern Africa, West Africa
and Europe have developed initiatives to prevent the proliferation
and misuse of small arms and light weapons. Many of these
regional initiatives have addressed directly the illicit trade
in weapons and have built regional consensus around issues
such as marking, storage, destruction and transfers.3
International initiatives also have been taken. In the United
Nations, sets of recommendations for measures to prevent and
reduce small arms proliferation have been agreed in the 1997
report of the UN Panel of Governmental Experts on Small Arms
and the 1999 report of the UN Group of Governmental Experts
on Small Arms, which were endorsed by the UN General Assembly.4
Moreover, the UN ECOSOC Commission on Crime Prevention and
Criminal Justice is currently negotiating a legally binding
protocol on illicit firearms trafficking supplementary to
the Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.5
This 'Firearms Protocol' has the potential to impact significantly
upon the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in small
arms and light weapons.
In view of the myriad initiatives that have developed in
recent years, and the endorsement by the UN General Assembly
of the consensus reports by UN Groups of Experts on Small
Arms in 1997 and 1999, it is clear that significant elements
exist for an international consensus on the nature of the
problem of small arms and light weapons proliferation and
of the types of international measures that are required to
tackle it. The first and subsequent Prep Coms for the 2001
Conference should seek to draw upon this.
Support for a broad mandate
There are powerful arguments in favour of adopting a 'comprehensive'
approach when establishing the agenda for the 2001 Conference.
In particular, the decision of the UN General Assembly that
"the scope of the Conference shall be the illicit trade in
small arms and light weapons in all its aspects"6
should provide the 2001 Conference with a mandate to cover
a wide range of issues relating to the proliferation of small
arms and light weapons.
The elements of consensus regarding the scope of the 2001
Conference have already been provided in the 1999 report of
the UN Group Small Arms.7 All major points of view
were represented by the 23 States who participated in this
Group, and after extensive discussions the Group achieved
consensus on recommendations for the scope of the 2001 Conference.8
This framework offers a significant opportunity for the international
community to pursue effectively comprehensive measures to
tackle the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light
weapons. Indeed, the Group report notes that the scope of
the Conference should give consideration to "all relevant
factors leading to the excessive and destabilizing accumulation
of small arms and light weapons in the context of the illicit
arms trade."9
The Group of Experts further proposed that all matters addressed
in the recommendations of its 1999 report, and in the 1997
report of the UN Panel, should be considered to fall within
the scope of the 2001 Conference, to the extent that the proposed
norms or measures should contribute to:
-
preventing and combating illicit trafficking, manufacture,
possession, storage or use of small arms and light weapons
in all its aspects; and
-
reducing excessive and destabilizing and transfers of
such weapons, particularly in the most affected regions
of the world.10
Thus a wide range of issues should be considered at the 2001
Conference. These include matters relating to legal transfers
of small arms and light weapons. It is important to strengthen
controls on legal transfers of such weapons to prevent them
from being diverted into illicit markets or used for proscribed
purposes. Furthermore, state-to-state transfers may contribute
to destabilizing and excessive accumulations and flows of
small arms and light weapons in regions of conflict or where
there are already urgent problems with small arms proliferation
and misuse.
The argument for using the 2001 Conference as an opportunity
to review principles governing legal transfers is further
strengthened by the existing UN definition of illicit trafficking,
as set out in the UN Guidelines adopted in May 1996 and in
the 1997 UN Panel Report. These documents define "illicit
trafficking" as the "international trade in conventional arms
which is contrary to the laws of States and/or international
law."11 In line with this definition, the 2001
Conference should address "illicit trafficking" in a manner
which is consistent with international law.
Elements within the scope of the 20001 Conference
The following issues have been highlighted by the UN Group
and UN Panel of Experts on Small Arms and should be regarded
as within the scope of the 2001 Conference:
-
Preventing and combating the illicit manufacture, transfer,
possession and misuse of small arms and light weapons,
their parts and components and ammunition;
-
Monitoring and enforcing UN arms embargoes;
-
Strengthening controls on the legal manufacture and transfers
of weapons;
-
Establishing international norms and guidelines on legal
manufacture and transfer of small arms and light weapons
to prevent and reduce excessive and destabilizing accumulations
and flows of such weapons, particularly in regions of
conflict or where small arms €proliferation is already
an urgent problem;
-
Promoting secure management and storage of small arms
and light weapons and ammunition legally held by authorised
bodies;
-
Promoting the destruction or other safe disposal of confiscated
or surplus small arms and light weapons and other related
materials;
-
Enhancing assistance to States to prevent and combat
illicit manufacture, trafficking, possession or misuse
of small arms and light weapons and ammunition, including
appropriate assistance in developing laws, regulations
and procedures relating to the control of such weapons;
-
Enhancing assistance to States for weapons collection
and destruction of confiscated or surplus small arms and
light weapons and ammunition;
-
Taking measures and enhancing assistance to prevent and
reduce excessive and destabilizing accumulations of small
arms and light weapons in regions of the world where conflicts
come to an end or problems of small arms proliferation
are to be dealt with urgently; and
-
Developing international information exchange and transparency
measures that contribute to international efforts to combat
and prevent illicit arms trafficking or to prevent and
reduce proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
Building on progress in the Firearms Protocol
In parallel to the discussions around illicit trafficking
that have taken place within the First Committee of the General
Assembly, the UN ECOSOC Commission on Crime Prevention and
Criminal Justice has been negotiating a legally binding protocol
to the Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.12
The draft Firearms Protocol, which is expected to be agreed
by September 2000, seeks to prevent and combat illicit manufacturing
of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and components
and ammunition. The Protocol could include far-reaching controls
on arms brokering activities; provisions for marking of weapons
at manufacture and at import; strengthening controls on the
licensing, import and export of weapons and new agreements
on record-keeping and information exchange.
However, important decisions around the scope and focus of
the Protocol remain unresolved. Crucially, it is unclear whether
the Protocol will cover all categories of small arms and light
weapons and whether it will exempt state-to-state transactions
or weapons transfers for the purpose of national security.
The scope of the Protocol could have significant impact on
the 2001 Conference. If wide definitions and controls are
adopted within the Protocol, the 2001 Conference will, in
part, provide a valuable forum for developing measures to
reinforce and implement the Protocol. However, if States agree
to a more narrow Protocol, which only addresses commercial
transactions, then the 2001 Conference could take up discussions
on extending the measures in the Protocol to state-to-state
transactions. Irrespective of the outcome of the Protocol
negotiations, agreements reached at the 2001 Conference must
complement and not duplicate the achievements of the Protocol.
3. Conference Objective: An International
Action Programme
The framework
The overall objective of the 2001 Conference must be to strengthen
and develop international efforts to prevent and combat the
illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons in all
its aspects, including their illicit manufacture and misuse.
This will require the Conference to:
-
establish and develop international agreements, norms
and practices to ensure that national and regional measures
to prevent and combat illicit arms trafficking in all
its aspects are supported and reinforced by the wider
international community;
-
prevent and remove inconsistencies or incoherence between
various national, regional and international measures,
which could undermine overall effectiveness;
-
enhance international co-operation and information exchange
to increase the effectiveness of efforts to tackle the
problems, promote learning and the implementation of good
practice; and
-
mobilise international resources to help communities,
countries and regions that need assistance to carry out
their programmes.
To succeed with these objectives, the 2001 Conference should
conclude an International Action Programme, which is
elaborated within a Conference Document of Agreement
and which is supplemented with agreements on specific issues.
This process is discussed below.
An International Action Programme13
The 2001 Conference should seek to develop an International
Action Programme on illicit trafficking proliferation and
misuse of small arms and light weapons.14 While
the Conference cannot realistically aim to secure comprehensive
measures on all of the issues within its possible scope, it
should aim to establish and develop a set of international
norms and standards in the areas covered by the 2001 Conference
and to establish a framework within which international efforts
can be subsequently developed in a sustained and co-ordinated
way. In some specific issue areas it will also be possible
to achieve a number of detailed agreements at the 2001 Conference
and to specify detailed obligations and mechanisms. This approach
should also allow the Conference to highlight issues on which
detailed agreement cannot yet be reached, but which remain
important issues for the international community to address
in the short to medium term.
Document of Agreement
Ultimately the document which emerges from the UN 2001 Conference
should be multi-faceted, embodying all aspects of the Conference
debate and consensus. Accordingly, the Conference declaration
should form a Document of Agreement to which participating
States commit themselves at a high political level. This Document
of Agreement should:
-
consolidate and strengthen a set of international
norms, standards and guidelines relating to the International
Action Programme;
-
identify the programmes and measures which
participants are committed to support; and
-
establish mechanisms and procedures to promote
implementation, review and further development of the
action programme.
4. Establishing Norms, Standards and Mechanisms
There are a number of existing international norms, standards
and recommendations to draw upon. The most important for this
purpose are those contained in recent UN reports.15
These documents are the product of long international negotiation,
and have all been endorsed by the UN General Assembly.
The 2001 Conference provides an excellent opportunity to
establish norms and standards, including in the following
areas:
-
promoting effective control of and restraint
in legal arms manufacture and transfers of small arms
and light weapons;
-
improving the security and proper management
of stockpiles of small arms and light weapons;
-
promoting collection and destruction of
confiscated or surplus arms and ammunition, particularly
within the context of peace agreements; and
-
enhancing information exchange and consultation
among States on measures to control small arms and light
weapons and for accountability in transfers of such weapons.
The contents of the Document of Agreement also need to take
appropriate account of the norms and measures needed to create
and maintain a secure environment in which efforts to combat
illicit arms trafficking and to prevent and reduce proliferation
and misuse of small arms and light weapons can succeed. These
include public provision of justice and security to citizens,
domestic firearms regulation, and raising public awareness
and involvement in reversing 'cultures of violence'.
Although the UN has already outlined clear recommendations
in many of these areas, governments often pay little attention
to General Assembly resolutions or UN reports, even if they
are the product of intensive international negotiations. The
2001 Conference represents an excellent opportunity to advance
and develop these recommendations into clear and unambiguous
commitments at the highest political level.
Support for existing programmes and measures
The Document of Agreement should also identify existing
and future initiatives that participating States agree to
support. In terms of existing programmes this should include
support for regional and national programmes such as the ECOWAS
Moratorium on the importation, exportation and manufacture
of light weapons; international programmes to support weapons
collection and destruction programmes such as those recently
undertaken in Liberia and Cambodia; the improvement of stockpile
management and security; processes to develop and harmonise
national legal controls and regulatory procedures such as
the Southern African Development Community draft firearms
protocol; enhancing the capacity of institutions such as the
police, border guards and the judiciary; public education
programmes; and international information exchange and consultation.
The 2001 Conference also should aim to establish guidelines
and mechanisms to promote implementation of such programmes.
It should aim further to mobilise and co-ordinate support
for such programmes by States and international bodies in
a position to provide assistance and by the UN itself.
Agreements on specific issues
Supporting the Document of Agreement should be a set
of agreements on specific issue areas in which commitments
are defined. Such specific agreements would be components
of the International Action Programme on illicit trafficking,
proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons.
Some of these detailed agreements could be legally binding,
as self-standing legal instruments or linked with existing
conventions where this is appropriate. However, the majority
would probably be politically binding agreements.
5. Issues for Specific Agreements
There are many areas relating to every aspect of the scope
of the 2001 Conference where specific agreements would be
useful. Here, a few are highlighted, which seem particularly
'ripe for negotiation at the 2001 Conference. Subsequent briefings
in this series will consider some of these issues in more
detail.
5.1 Marking and tracing of weapons
It is now widely agreed that international efforts to prevent
and combat diversion of arms to illicit markets would be strengthened
by improvements in the capacity to trace illicit small arms
and light weapons back to their source and to clarify the
chain of transactions that led to diversion or misuse. Making
arms flows 'traceable' would enable legitimate authorities
to identify points where legal arms were diverted to the illicit
trade and thus to take action to expose or punish criminal
or destabilizing activities, while preventing similar future
diversions.
An effective international system to promote 'traceability'
requires three key elements:
-
systems to ensure adequate and reliable marking of all
arms;
-
adequate record-keeping on arms production, possession
and transfers; and
-
international arrangements to enable timely and reliable
tracing of lines of supply by relevant authorities.
The Firearms Protocol will make a significant contribution
to establishing effective international systems for marking
and tracing small arms and light weapons. However, if the
scope of the Firearms Protocol is restricted to commercial
transactions, it will be too narrow to address the wider problem
of tracing weapons diverted from state arsenals. The scope
of the 2001 Conference will include state-to-state arms transactions
and transfers for the purposes of national security, where
they are linked with illicit or destabilizing activities.
The precise requirements for agreement at the 2001 Conference
on marking and tracing will not become clear until the negotiations
for the Firearms Protocol have been completed. Nevertheless,
States should agree to adopt and enforce the following key
measures, whether within the context of the Firearms Protocol
or the 2001 Conference:
-
require at manufacture the marking of all small arms
and light weapons to identify the manufacturer, place
of manufacture and serial number;
-
adequate record-keeping;
-
prevent the manufacture or transfer of unmarked or inadequately
marked small arms and light weapons;
-
mark or destroy all unmarked or inadequately marked weapons
that have been collected, confiscated, or seized;
-
mark weapons held or stored by national armed forces
or other national agencies (as a transitional arrangement,
existing stockpiles of unmarked arms held in reserve in
secure storage facilities may remain in place, but such
weapons must be appropriately marked at the time they
are moved or transferred to civilian use); and
-
reinforce co-operation with other States and with relevant
intergovernmental organizations in the tracing of illicit
or suspect small arms and light weapons, ammunition and
other related materials.
5.2 Arms brokers and shipping
agents
The 2001 Conference should play a central role in establishing
agreed international definitions and standards for addressing
all aspects of the problem of arms brokering. While there
is a strong possibility that the Firearms Protocol will include
controls on arms brokers, it may be restricted to commercial
transactions. In this case, the 2001 Conference should prioritise
controls on brokering activities relating to state-to-state
transfers of small arms and light weapons and transactions
for the purposes of national security. The agreement should:
-
commit States to establish national laws, regulations
and procedures to regulate arms brokering activities that
may take place within their area of jurisdiction;
-
criminalise breaches of such regulations; and
-
monitor and enforce their implementation.
The agreement also should establish common definitions and
standards for the national implementation of this obligation.
At a minimum, States should require persons or companies that
engage in arms brokering activities to register with the country
where they are resident or established, and to obtain a licence
for their transactions from this same country.16
5.3 Controls on the manufacture
of small arms and light weapons
It is crucial to ensure that the manufacture of small arms,
light weapons and ammunition adequately controlled by States
to restrict illicit production, diversion of legal weapons
to illicit markets and to prevent destabilizing arms flows.
An agreement on manufacturing at the 2001 Conference could
develop and strengthen international standards relating to
controls on manufacture of small arms and light weapons, and
establish some mechanisms to promote implementation of these
standards.
The most important standard is that all States should have
in place adequate laws, regulations and administrative procedures
to exercise effective control over the legal manufacture and
possession of small arms and light weapons, ammunition and
other related materials. This should include all industrial
manufacture as well as small-scale 'craft' production of such
arms and ammunition. Legislation should be in place to ensure
that all unauthorized production of such arms is a criminal
offense, and should be effectively enforced.
The draft Firearms Protocol includes legal obligations on
States Parties to adopt the necessary legislative or other
measures to implement these standards in relation to firearms
production. If the Protocol's definition of firearms does
not include all types of small arms and light weapons or does
not cover weapons produced for use by States' armed forces,
the 2001 Conference should aim for an agreement that obliges
all States to adopt legislative and other measures to control
manufacture of all types of small arms, light weapons and
ammunition. This should include:
-
require at manufacture the marking of all
small arms and light weapons to identify the manufacturer,
place of manufacture and serial number;
-
adequate record-keeping;
-
prevent the manufacture or transfer of unmarked
or inadequately marked small arms and light weapons;
-
mark or destroy all unmarked or inadequately
marked weapons that have been collected, confiscated,
or seized;
-
mark weapons held or stored by national
armed forces or other national agencies (as a transitional
arrangement, existing stockpiles of unmarked arms held
in reserve in secure storage facilities may remain in
place, but such weapons must be appropriately marked at
the time they are moved or transferred to civilian use);
and
-
reinforce co-operation with other States
and with relevant intergovernmental organizations in the
tracing of illicit or suspect small arms and light weapons,
ammunition and other related materials.
5.4 Increasing restraint and
responsibility governing legal transfers
The Document of Agreement must include a set of standards
and measures which would increase controls governing legal
transfers of small arms and light weapons, in order to prevent
diversion to illicit or unauthorized destinations and to prevent
and reduce proliferation and misuse of these weapons. In addition
to strengthening and co-ordinating existing controls on legal
transfers, the 2001 Conference provides an excellent opportunity
to develop internationally agreed criteria for the transfer
of small arms and light weapons. These criteria should be
based on the principles enshrined in international law and
should prevent the transfer of weapons which might be used
for internal repression, external aggression, the escalation
of conflicts or regional destabilization. This agreement should
apply equally to all recipients of small arms and light weapons.
Such international standards could be elaborated in a specific
agreement. This would complement and reinforce the regulatory
obligations included in the Protocol on licensing and authorization
systems for firearms transfers. This agreement should focus
on:
-
establishing rigorous international criteria, or an international
'Code of Conduct',17 that States should apply
when considering authorizations of transfers of small
arms and light weapons;
-
model regulations which provide minimum standards for
harmonised import, export and in-transit certification;
and
-
agreement on improving systems of end-use certification
and verification.
In addition, there is an increasing interest in establishing
an international agreement to restrict transfers of military
types of small arms and light weapons to non-State actors.
The Government of Canada has been a proponent of such an agreement
and the Member States of the European Union have agreed in
the EU Joint Action on Small Arms to work towards international
acceptance of "a commitment by exporting countries to supply
small arms only to governments".18
There are concerns among some States and civil society groups
that, on its own, this proposal could be unbalanced. A more
coherent approach would be for governments to adopt and adhere
to strict criteria on the transfer of arms, thereby requiring
all end-users to meet the same high standards of behaviour.
If such criteria were adhered to by governments, then an agreement
to restrict access to weapons by non-State actors would be
appropriate, in conjunction with programmes for capacity building,
development and reform of the security sector.
5.5 Security of stocks of small
arms and light weapons
Loss, theft or corrupt sale of small arms and light weapons
from authorised stocks is a major source of illicit arms and
destabilizing and excessive accumulations and flows of weapons.
Improving the management and security of stocks of such weapons
should therefore be one of the main objectives of the International
Action Programme. While the Document of Agreement should establish
strong international norms and standards on this, a greater
challenge is to secure a specific agreement detailing particular
standards and programmes to improve security against loss,
theft or corrupt sale from authorised stocks of small arms
and light weapons and ammunition. Such an agreement would
need to address dimensions relating to:
-
the security of official weapons stores;
-
monitoring and record-keeping;
-
regulations on weapons held by civilian bodies; and
-
a range of stockpile management practices.
The agreement should give detailed understandings of the
implications of these steps and establish mechanisms to facilitate
access to relevant technical assistance and information on
good practice.
5.6 Disposal and destruction
of weapons
A large proportion of illicitly held or trafficked small
arms and light weapons were once held in authorised or government
stockpiles. The report of the UN Group of Experts recommended
that "States in a position to do so should assist other States,
at their request, in their efforts to destroy surplus weapons
or confiscated or collected weapons".19 Strict
controls should be applied to the disposal of surplus stocks
of weapons and the destruction of surplus arms and ammunition
should be promoted. Confiscated illicit or unauthorized arms
also should be destroyed, to avoid the risk that they may
re-enter the illicit market. A specific agreement that elaborates
and develops the implications of norms and standards in the
Document of Agreement, including establishing mechanisms to
facilitate access to assistance and identifies good practice,
should be a product of the Conference.
6. Emerging Issues for the International
Action Programme
There are a number of important and relevant issues that
are not yet high on the agenda for the preparations for the
2001 Conference, but which nevertheless should be considered.
Some of these issues are discussed briefly below, to help
to ensure they are given attention in this process.
6.1 Enhancing capacity of states
to provide citizens with a secure environment
The Document of Agreement should include norms and measures
to support and promote weapons collection where the proliferation
of small arms is an urgent problem, or as part of efforts
to collect and destroy illicit arms. However, weapons collection
must be seen as only one element of efforts to reduce and
prevent insecurity, crime, violence and obstacles to development
associated with the wide availability or misuse of small arms
and light weapons. It is important to promote and support
all efforts to provide citizens and communities with a secure
and just environment.
States may lack the capacity and institutions necessary to
provide such a secure environment. For example, the police,
military and other parts of the 'security sector' may be inadequately
resourced or trained, or may be inappropriately structured
or used. The International Action Programme should, therefore,
help to promote appropriate development and reform of the
security sector. Similarly, measures to develop adequate laws
and judicial and prison services need to be encouraged.
While the development of appropriate laws and institutions
is primarily a matter for the governments and people of each
State, the international community should be ready to provide
assistance and support in this area and to support information
exchange and consultation on relevant experiences and good
practice. It should also help to promote the development of
regional or sub-regional co-operation on such matters.
6.2 Enhancing transparency and
accountability
International arrangements to enhance information exchange
and transparency can play an important role in efforts to
combat illicit trafficking and prevent and reduce the proliferation
and misuse of small arms and light weapons. They can facilitate
effective co-operation in enforcing laws and in identifying
and tackling weak points in control systems. Improving the
capacity to monitor accumulations and flows of small arms
and light weapons facilitates timely warning of problems and
early responses, and contributes to confidence-building. Well-designed
transparency measures can be a key factor in improving accountability
and promoting responsible implementation of agreed norms and
standards.
The 2001 Conference should agree on a number of international
information exchange arrangements, as an intrinsic part of
the programmes included in the Document of Agreement and of
the agreements linked to it on specific issues.20
Most of these will involve enhancements in confidential information
exchanges between national authorities. However it is important
to increase public transparency as well.
Arrangements to enhance and expand the amount of relevant
official information that is in the public domain will facilitate
wider awareness and involvement in efforts to address the
problems, help to increase accountability, and encourage responsible
practice. Relevant information exchange mechanisms should
involve the provision of information into the public domain,
where it does not endanger national security or compromise
judicial, law enforcement or legitimate commercial interests.
Further, recommendations should be considered relating to
the design of regional and international registers of information
relating to the manufacture, transfer and accumulation of
small arms and light weapons, to supplement the information
on major conventional arms contained in the UN Register of
Conventional Arms.
6.3 Regulating private security
companies
Private military companies and private security companies
are often involved in transfers of small arms and light weapons,
either for their own use or as arms brokers. There is evidence
that some private military companies have been involved in
illicit arms trafficking. While there are legitimate roles
for private security companies, it is important that they
are properly embedded in States' public systems for providing
security and police services.
Effective controls on arms transfers and accumulations will
contribute greatly to tackling such concerns, as would an
international agreement to control arms brokering activities.
However private security and military companies raise a number
of specific concerns, which the international community should
address.21 The International Action Programme could
usefully facilitate international information exchange and
consultation on the issue, focusing particularly on those
activities that relate directly to the objectives of the programme.
6.4 Ammunition, explosives and
missiles
Ammunition is an integral part of the small arms and light
weapons used in conflicts and crime and are included in the
definitions of small arms and light weapons used by the UN.
In 1998, the UN established a study group on the question
of ammunition and explosives to establish whether these areas
offer special leverage points to enhance controls on destabilizing
flows and misuse of small arms and light weapons.22
The main recommendation was that measures to control manufacture,
transfer and accumulation of ammunition and explosives should
be integrated, where relevant and appropriate, into the international
norms and measures developed for all small arms and light
weapons. The Document of Agreement provides the opportunity
to do this and develop guidelines and measures relating to
ammunition and explosives that can be included in the agreements
achieved at the 2001 Conference. Consideration should be given
to whether special standards and programmes should be established
to address concerns relating to specific types of small arms
and light weapons. For example, the illicit trafficking and
spread of shoulder‑fired anti-aircraft missiles raise
special concerns, which could be addressed in a specific agreement
negotiated at the 2001 Conference.
7. Conclusions
The forthcoming UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small
Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects provides an important
opportunity to reinforce, co-ordinate and strengthen international
efforts to address the problems associated with illicit trafficking
and proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
The main objective of the 2001 Conference should be to establish
an International Action Programme on illicit trafficking,
proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons.
The International Action Programme must be a flexible and
organic agreement that develops over time, and it is important
that the Document of Agreement establishes mechanisms to facilitate
this. At a minimum, provision should be made for follow-up
Conferences and meetings - the equivalent of regular 'Meetings
of the Parties' of international conventions. Such meetings
should be tasked with reviewing implementation and progress;
considering developments in the problems of illicit trafficking
and small arms proliferation; agreeing further measures and
programmes as appropriate; and negotiating specific agreements
to pursue the objectives of the action programme. Sources
of institutional support and co-ordination should also be
identified, from the UN Secretariat and elsewhere. In such
a way the proliferation of small arms and light weapons and
illicit arms trafficking that is associated with widespread
insecurity, conflict, crime and human suffering in much of
the world may begin to be reversed.
________________
Endnotes
1 UN General Assembly A RES/54/54
V, 15 December 1999.
2 The definition of small arms and
light weapons used here is the one used in the 1997 Report
of the UN Panel of GovernmentalExperts on Small
Arms, United Nations, A/52/298, 27 August 1997, which
has become widely accepted. This distinguishes between small
arms, which are weapons designed for personal use, and light
weapons, which are designed for use by several persons serving
as a crew. The category of small arms includes: revolvers
and self loading pistols, rifles and carbines, submachine
guns, assault rifles, and light machine guns. Light weapons
include heavy machine guns, hand-held under-barrel and mounted
grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft guns, portable anti-tanks
guns, recoilless rifles, portable launchers of antiaircraft
missile systems, and mortars of calibres less than 100mm.
The ammunition and explosives are considered to form an integral
part of the small arms and light weapons with which they are
used in conflict.
3 For example, the ECOWAS Moratorium
on the Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of Light Weapons,
the Southern African Development Community draft protocol
on illicit arms trafficking; the GAS Convention on the Illicit
Trafficking of and Manufacturing in Firearms, Their Parts
and Components and Ammunition; the EU Code of Conduct on Arms
Transfers and others.
4 Report of the UN Panel of Governmental
Experts on Small Arms, A/52/298, 27 August 1997 and Report
of the UN Groupof Governmental Experts on Small
Arms, A/54/258, 19 August 1999.
5 Revised draft Protocol against
the Elicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their
Parts and Components and Ammunition, supplementing
the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised
Crime, A/AC/.254/L.147/Add.3, 27 January 2000.
6 Ibid., A/RES/54/S4 V
7 Ibid., A/54/258.
8 Ibid., paragraphs 130-133.
9 Ibid., paragraph 132.
10 Ibid., paragraphs 131-132.
11 This is the agreed definition
used by the United Nations for small arms and light weapons.
See "Guidelines for international arms transfers in the context
of General Assembly resolution 46/36H of 6 December 1991",
reprinted in United Nations, Review of the Implementation
of the Recommendations and Decisions Adopted by the General
Assembly at its Tenth Special Session: Report
of the Disarmament Commission, A/51/182, 1 July 1996,
pp. 64-69.
12 Ibid., A/AC.254/L.147/Add.3.
13 An international action programme
approach combines the advantages of negotiability, flexibility
and substantial detailed agreements. However, the international
action programme approach does not aim to secure agreement
on an overarching 'framework conventions at the 2001 Conference,
which would make the norms, standards and mechanisms in the
Document of Agreement legally binding. The reasons for this
are essentially pragmatic. A politically binding agreement
for an international action programme does not require ratification
before coming into force, and governments are expected to
adopt and implement the commitments without delay. Moreover,
studies of the effectiveness of international agreements indicate
that politically binding commitments are often as effective
as legally binding ones provided that they secure clear political
commitment at the highest levels.
14 This is in line with General Assembly
resolution A/RES/54/54 V, paragraph 7, 15 December 1999, which
stated that the outcomes from the Conference should include
an action programme.
15 Report of the UN Group of Governmental
Experts on Small Arms, A/54/258; Report of the UN Panel
of Governmental Experts on Small Arms, A/52/298; UN
Disarmament Commission Guidelines for International Arms Transfers
in the context of General Assembly resolution 46/36 H, A/51/42,
annex 1, 1996; UN Disarmament Commission Guidelines on
conventional arms control limitation and disarmament,
with particular emphasis on consolidation of peace in the
context of General Assembly resolution 51/45 N, A 54/42, Annex
3,1999.
16 States also may decide, as appropriate,
to require anyone engaged in brokering activities to register
with authorities in their country of nationality and to obtain
a licence or authorisation for arms brokering transactions
from the same country.
17 It is recognised that discussions
around a Code of Conduct may go beyond the emerging consensus
reached within the UN Group of Experts. However former President
of Costa Rica Dr. Oscar Arias is leading an initiative to
develop an International Code of Conduct in conjunction with
a Commission of Nobel Laureates. For additional information
on this effort. see the Arias Foundation web page at http://www.arias.or.cr/Eindice.htm.
18 Council of the European Union,
Joint Action on the European Union's contribution to combating
the destabilizing accumulation and spread of small arms and
light weapons, December 1998, article 3b.
19 Ibid., A/54/258, paragraph 111.
20 For example: systems of controls
on manufacture and transfer of small arms and light weapons,
tracing illicit or suspect weapons; lists of manufacturers,
dealers and brokers involved in production and transfers;
stockpile management and security; destruction of surplus
arms; weapons collection programmer; and international assistance
prograrnmes.
21 To an extent, private military
companies are associated with concerns about mercenary activities.
However the UN Protocol against mercenaries provides an inadequate
framework for addressing such concerns (Protocol Additional
to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 (Protocol 1),
1977). Its definition of mercenaries is very specific and
is probably not an appropriate framework to regulate private
military and private security companies.
22 Report of the UN Study Group
on the Problem of Ammunition and Explosives, A/54/155,
1999.
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