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EU Presidency Statement - Illicit trade in small arms

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to take the floor on behalf of the fifteen Member States of the European Union. The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the European Union, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia and the associated countries of Cyprus and Malta align themselves with this statement.

Let me begin by paying tribute to you, Mr. Chairman, and express our appreciation for your efforts since the first meeting of this Preparatory Committee and the Intersessional Meeting to make progress on the issues that we have to resolve. We are also grateful that you have put forward a draft programme of action for the consideration of this Committee. We are convinced that you with your wise leadership and diplomatic skills will guide the Committee to substantial progress, at this session, in preparing the Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects next summer.

The purpose of this statement is to introduce a document prepared by the EU, a document that we would like to be taken into account by the Preparatory Committee.

Mr. Chairman,

The European Union attaches great importance to the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects next July. And we hope it will lead to concrete results. We are convinced that an effective response to the suffering and insecurity caused by small arms and light weapons, as well as related issues such as child soldiers, can only be found in an approach in which the different aspects of the problem are tackled, i.e. a comprehensive approach with a combination of "demand" and "supply" side strategies together with programmes for disarmament and reintegration as well as demobilisation, confidence-building, conflict resolution, capacity-building and development. Small arms and light weapons are already so widely spread that measures must be taken not only to control the supply of new weapons but also to help to prevent their re-circulation - "cascading", the dispersal and use of existing stocks.

Mr. Chairman,

Realising the problems caused by the destabilising accumulations and spread of small arms and light weapons, the EU has taken a number of steps including

• a programme for preventing and combating illicit trafficking in conventional arms (1997),
  
  
• a code of conduct on arms export (1998),
  
  
• a joint action on the EU contribution to combating the destabilising accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons (1998),
  
  
• a resolution on combating the destabilising accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons as part of the EU's emergency aid, reconstruction and development programmes.

We are also providing assistance in a number of projects, i.a. to collect and destroy small arms and light weapons, e.g. in Cambodia.

We welcome the efforts in other organisations to deal with these problems. The OSCE Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons approved at the Ministerial Council on 27-28 November 2000, constitutes not only an important step in dealing with these problems in the OSCE area, but also a valuable input in the preparations for the United Nations Conference. The Bamako Declaration with a Common African Position on the Illicit Proliferation, Circulation and Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons adopted at the OAU Ministerial Conference in Mali 30 November-1 December provides an important contribution to the work of this Committee as does the Brasilia Declaration adopted at the Regional Preparatory Meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean States in Brazil 22-24 November 2000. Important meetings have also taken place in other regions.

Work on the Small Arms agenda has, however, had some setbacks. The negotiations on the UN Firearms Protocol could not be concluded in October as we had hoped. Nevertheless , we are now looking forward to renewed efforts early this year to try to reach an agreement on the outstanding issues as soon as possible.

Mr. Chairman,

As we now focus on the substance of the issues that we have to deal with in preparing for the UN Conference this summer, the European Union realises that all problems cannot be solved at once. Action is needed at the national, regional and international levels and needs to be sustained over time to reach results. That is why the EU firmly supports that we should elaborate a plan of action to be adopted at the Conference.

Mr. Chairman, during the Intersessional Meeting last summer you put forward a constructive proposal for a structure for the plan of action.

We in the European Union have taken that structure as the basis for our own preparations for this meeting and our considerations have resulted in a proposal by the European Union for a Plan of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade of Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects which you have before you (document A/CONF.192/PC/21). We are putting forward this proposal in an effort to contribute to the process that we trust will lead to the adoption of a plan of action at the Conference.

The document is composed of a preamble and three chapters. The preamble expresses concern for the consequences brought about by the destabilising accumulations and spread of SALW. In the first chapter, commitments for preventing the illicit acquisition, transfers, transit and movement of small arms and light weapons on the national level, are outlined. The second chapter deals with measures for international co-operation and assistance, and actions at the sub-regional, regional and international levels. The third and final chapter deals with the implementation of the programme of action and the follow-up of the conference.

I do not intend to summarise the proposals since the document is before the Committee. I should only like to emphasise the importance of the implementation of the plan of action. This is the reason why the EU proposes national and regional reports, at appropriate intervals, on the implementation of the plan of action. That is also the reason why we propose a conference to review the implementation in 2005 and the establishment of a committee with the double task of following the implementation and preparing for a new conference.

We submit the proposal, Mr. Chairman, as the EU contribution to the work on the plan of action and we look forward to going into details with other delegations as the Committee now will focus on substantive issues.

Mr. Chairman,

The EU welcomes that some of the outstanding procedural issues were settled during the deliberations during the First Committee last autumn and that the General Assembly could take a decision on the time and venue for the Conference. This will make it possible for the Committee to concentrate on the substance.

There are, however, still some procedural questions that need to be decided. In this context I should like to refer to the support of the EU for the nomination by the United Kingdom of Sir Michael Weston as Chairman of the Conference. We hope that a solution concerning the Chairmanship will be reached during this session of the Committee.

Another matter relates to the presence of non-governmental organisations. The position of the EU is that this question should be solved so as to allow NGOs as wide access as possible. An active input from them is important in our efforts to arrive at solutions that work in practice and are supported by the civil society.

Mr. Chairman,

Before concluding I should like to make a few comments/suggestions on the organisation of our work during this session.

Trusting that we all agree to work towards a draft plan of action, it is the opinion of the EU that it may well be productive to try to organise, at the appropriate time, our work in working groups for specific subject areas to be included in the draft plan of action. In doing this we believe that we could save time and make good progress already at this session. We are flexible as to the selection of subjects and will follow your wise guidance in this respect. If need be, we will revert to this issue later on during the session.

Mr. Chairman,

To conclude, I should like to reiterate the preparedness of the European Union to work closely with you and other delegations during this meeting to make good progress in the preparations for the Conference. We believe that we all share the concern for the suffering caused by uncontrolled flows and destabilising accumulations of small arms and light weapons. It is in this spirit that we should work towards finding concrete solutions to the problems caused by the illicit trade of those weapons in all its aspects.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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