Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 59, July - August 2001

Documents & Sources

UN Conference on Small Arms

United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, New York, July 9-20, 2001.

Notes: for extensive documentation from the Conference, see the UN website at http://www.un.org/Depts/dda/CAB/smallarms.

See UN Press Release SC/7114 ('In wake of Assembly Conference on small arms, Security Council examines its role in implementation of Action Programme', August 2) for coverage of a full-day Security Council debate on the outcome of the Conference.

The next issue of Disarmament Diplomacy will feature analysis of the conference and an assessment of its potential impact.

I. Summary of Programme of Action

'Small Arms Conference concludes with consensus adoption of action programme,' UN Press Release DC/2795, July 21.

Notes: the 'Draft Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects' (A/CONF.192/L.5/Rev.1) was adopted by consensus on July 21. The Programme of Action includes a recommendation to the UN General Assembly that a follow-up conference be convened no later than 2006.

The full text of the Programme - which is non-binding - is available at http://www.un.org/Depts/dda/CAB/smallarms/files/aconf192_l5r1.pdf.

"Programme of Action

In preventing, combating and eradicating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects, states undertook, at the national level, to:

put in place adequate laws, regulations and administrative procedures to exercise effective control over the production of small arms and light weapons within their areas of jurisdiction, and over the export, import, transit or retransfer of such weapons, in order to prevent illegal manufacture of and illicit trafficking in these weapons, or their diversion to unauthorized recipients;
establish national coordination agencies responsible for policy guidance, research and monitoring of efforts to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade, including aspects of the illicit manufacture, control, trafficking, circulation, brokering, trade, as well as tracing, finance, collection and destruction of small arms and light weapons;
identify groups and individuals engaged in the illegal manufacture, trade, stockpiling, transfer, possession, as well as financing for acquisition, of illicit small arms and light weapons, and take action under appropriate national law against such groups and individuals;
ensure responsibility for all small arms and light weapons held and issued by the state and effective measures for tracing such weapons;
put in place and implement adequate laws, regulations and administrative procedures to ensure the effective control over the export and transit of small arms and light weapons, including the use of authenticated end-user certificates;
make every effort, without prejudice to the right of states to re-export small arms and light weapons that they have previously imported, to notify the original exporting state in accordance with their bilateral agreements before the retransfer of those weapons;
and develop and implement, where possible, effective disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes, including effective collection, control, storage and destruction of small arms and light weapons, particularly in post-conflict zones, as well as address the special needs of children affected by armed conflict.

At the regional level, states undertook to:

encourage regional negotiations with the aim of concluding relevant legally binding instruments aimed at preventing, combating and eradicating the illicit trade, and where they do exist to ratify and fully implement them;
encourage the strengthening and establishing of moratoria or similar initiatives in affected regions or subregions on the transfer and manufacture of small arms and light weapons and/or regional action programmes to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade, and to respect such moratoria, similar initiatives and/or action programmes;
and establish, where appropriate, subregional or regional mechanisms, in particular trans-border customs cooperation and networks for information-sharing among law-enforcement, border and customs control agencies.

Among measures at the global level, states and the World Customs Organization would be encouraged to enhance cooperation with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to identify those groups and individuals engaged in the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects, in order to allow national authorities to proceed against them in accordance with their national laws.

With regard to implementation, international cooperation and assistance, states undertook to encourage the establishment and strengthening of cooperation and partnerships at all levels among international and intergovernmental organizations and civil society, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international financial institutions. States and appropriate international and regional organizations in a position to do so should, upon request of the relevant authorities, seriously consider rendering assistance, including technical and financial support where needed, such as small arms funds. In addition, states undertook to cooperate with each other, including on the basis of the relevant existing regional and global legally binding instruments, in tracing illicit small arms and light weapons, particularly by strengthening mechanisms based on the exchange of relevant information. They are encouraged to exchange information on a voluntary basis on their national marking systems on small arms and light weapons.

Annexed to the Programme of Action is a list of initiatives undertaken at the regional and subregional levels to address the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons."