Annan ‘Encouraged’ By Regional, Sub-Regional Action To Combat Small Arms Trade
New York, Aug 23 2005 5:00PM
Encouraging regional and sub-regional efforts to curb gun violence can pave the way for further action at the global
level, especially wider implementation of a 2001 United Nations accord aimed at combating illicit trade in small arms
and light weapons, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a new report.
In his report on assistance to States for curbing the illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons, Mr. Annan notes
that over the past year, regional organizations carried out many activities to implement the action plan adopted by the
July 2001 Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.
He highlights Africa, where conference focusing on the Great Lakes region held in Nairobi, Kenya, adopted a declaration
on best practices and common standards to curb the threat posed by small arms. In West Africa, members of the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met in March to review a draft convention that would transform the current
voluntary ECOWAS moratorium on the importation, exportation and manufacture of light weapons in that region into a
legally binding treaty.
Among other things, the report notes improved collaboration among the members of the Coordinating Action on Small Arms
(CASA) mechanism, which was established by Mr. Annan in 1998 and consists of 16 UN entities. In response to requests for
assistance form the Government of Burundi, an inter-agency fact-finding mission was dispatched to that country last
February. It concluded that after 10 years of civil war, the proliferation of light weapons was a “serious and
widespread problem” that equally affected Burundi’s neighbours.
The report also highlights the significance of the politically binding draft international instrument on tracing
weapons, which was agreed upon by an open-ended working group last June. Mr. Annan says that under the accord’s
requirements for marking small arms and record-keeping, States would commit themselves to, among other things, provide
prompt, timely and reliable responses to tracing requests made by other States.
ENDS