Human Rights Watch called on the United Nations to take urgent action to address the spread and misuse of small arms.
Diplomats are meeting in New York from February 28 to March 3 to prepare for the U.N. Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects, scheduled to take place sometime in the year 2001. This week's meetings represent the first gathering of the so-called Preparatory Committee that will set the agenda for the 2001 Conference and draft final documents. The Conference is expected to lead to a "plan of action" for governments, the outlines of which are still unclear.
"Governments have talked about the need to stem the proliferation of small arms," said Joost Hiltermann, Executive Director of the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch, "But talk is cheap. It's time to take action to halt small arms flows to human rights abusers."
In armed conflicts around the world, small arms are the weapons most widely used to commit abuses against civilians and other violations of international humanitarian law.
Hiltermann said that governments are largely responsible for the illegal trade in small arms, and the ease with which abusive armed forces obtain weapons. "Many of the weapons on the black market at some point were legally transferred by governments or with government approval," he stated. "And governments have failed to rein in unscrupulous arms traffickers or enforce arms embargoes imposed on human rights abusers."
Human Rights Watch spelled out its position in a memorandum to delegates. It called on U.N. member states to ensure that the 2001 Conference results in concrete efforts to halt weapons flows to forces that have consistently abused human rights or violated international humanitarian law. The three priority areas identified by Human Rights Watch for action by U.N. member states were:
- Adoption of binding codes of conduct on arms transfers;
- Establishment of transparency measures, including annual reporting and the creation of registers; and
- Strict implementation and enforcement of arms embargoes imposed on human rights abusers.
