Year XXXVII, Number 3, November 2024
The UN Review Conference on Program of Action – Small Arms & Light Weapons and Arms Trade Treaty
James Arputharaj
Member, Board of Directors, International Executive Board, WFM-IGP.
President, SAF – South Asian Federalists – and Country Director, Asian Youth Centre, Sri Lanka
Global conflict has been a prime driver for pushing 117 million people in 19 countries to extreme hunger and leaving millions more as refugees. According to Oxfam, global military spending reached $2.2 trillion last year which was enough to cover the UN global humanitarian appeal 42 times. Non-state actors, warlords and mercenaries are also benefiting from illegal and off the book sales and transfers. Between 2004 & 2011, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council alone exported 85% of global arms sales. We all know that many of the weapons illicitly traded were originally produced legally. Transit points in several instances have become end users, and the supply tap of weapon production is open, and fuels the conflicts, which increases the demand for and heightens risks of diversion of small arms and light weapons (SALW) to unauthorized recipients, therefore Governments have a responsibility to be more serious in addressing proliferation and diversion of SALW. The development of 3D printing of guns poses altogether a new challenge as it is beyond the scope of any regulatory body. The President of the Review Conference, the ambassador from Costa Rica, stressed the need for urgency and the search for multi-faceted solutions.
Until recently I worked for 10 years in Afghanistan, we all know who profited from the 2 decades of war in Afghanistan.
We need not only to put in place export controls but also control of the production of weapons, the supply side needs to be regulated, while controlling the demand side as well. “Earlier we were manufacturing weapons to sell, but now we are manufacturing wars to sell weapons.”
Some countries, to increase their economy are engaging in the production and export of weapons. Do we need weapons of any kind at all – legal or illegal – to maintain international peace and security? Negotiations are key to resolving conflicts. Only 74 countries have accepted the compulsory international jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The World Federalist Movement is campaigning to enhance the jurisdiction and use of the ICJ through the “Law not war” project which is supported by the Global Challenge Foundation.
Many arms control activists around the world hoped that member states who adopted the UN Program of Action on SALW in 2001 and ratified the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), would live up to the expectations of people around the world by implementing the treaty provisions in order to create a peaceful environment.
The fourth United Nations conference held in New York in July 2024 aimed to review progress made in the implementation of the Program of Action to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in SALW in all its aspects. While the program of action on SALW was adopted in 2001, the International Tracing Instrument (ITI) was adopted subsequently. This calls for record keeping and monitoring end users. Marking and tracking arms transfer is an important component of arms control. There are still some member-states who have not even formed a national coordinating agency, the first step. Some countries have not submitted reports. Only 96 member-states have submitted reports to UN Office for Disarmament Affairs.
For example, the last report from Sri Lanka was in 2008. We at South Asian Federalists (SAF) are working with the governments of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal to ensure regular reporting and other capacity building activities.
We appreciate the reference to ammunition in the (zero draft outcome) document[i], recognizing the implementation of applicable policies and practices on conventional ammunition management. One of the studies conducted by South Asia Small Arms Network (SASA-Net) in its publication, “Small arms proliferation: a big problem[ii]” some years ago highlighted the fact that while there are illegal gun manufacturing factories, ammunition comes through pilferages from government stockpiles. There should be more support from the European Union/western countries for capacity building of governments in stockpile management, weapons collection and destruction.
The draft document notes, “States resolve:
To put in place, where they do not exist, adequate laws, regulations and administrative procedures to exercise effective national control… of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons”.
In the publication “Small arms proliferation – a big problem” SASA-Net emphasized the need to bring amendments to national FireArms Acts in response to the UN Program of Action.
In the debate on the final outcome of the document, the main issue of contention concerned regulations on ammunition. This was resolved. We are glad that there is a treaty adopted in 2023 on Conventional Ammunition Management at the UN. The UN has scheduled a meeting in Nepal in Dec 2024 to review progress in this regard. The Arab countries objected to the language on gender focused implementation; this objection was also withdrawn after negotiations.
During the Review Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty only 15 countries who had ratified the ATT had submitted reports to the ATT secretariat, although this is mandatory. China had submitted its report and called it confidential. China continues to export to non-state actors in Asia (to both the government and rebels in Myanmar) and Africa and there is no way of finding this out.
Some delegations including Palestine, Maldives and the Islamic group condemned the fact that some European countries and others are violating the provisions of the ATT by exporting arms to Israel, a conflict zone. However, the President mentioned that he had received the statement but there was no further discussion. One wonders what “legally binding” really means. The Fire Arms protocol and ATT are the only legally binding instruments that came into force after much dedication and struggle by small arms activists around the world.
According to a report by Saferworld[iii] UK, ATT faces several challenges that threaten its potential to deliver on its primary purposes of furthering peace, security and stability, reducing human suffering, and promoting transparency and responsibility in the international arms trade. These challenges include: the Treaty’s worsening financial position – largely arising from the failure by some States Parties to meet their obligations to fund the ongoing business of the Treaty (such as the annual Conference of States Parties and the work of the ATT Secretariat); declining levels of engagement in the formal ATT process; and a reluctance of States to discuss the widespread transfer of arms to situations where they are then misused. These issues raise questions about whether the process is now adequately meeting the needs of ATT stakeholders – primarily States Parties, States Signatories and civil society. This has led to growing discontent with the Treaty process as it stands. The ATT program of work is organized predominantly via three working groups – on Effective Treaty Implementation (WGETI), on Transparency and Reporting (WGTR), and on Treaty Universalization (WGTU). Usually meeting twice a year over three days, these working groups have produced a raft of guidance to support key aspects of Treaty life. Each three-day session is followed by a one-day preparatory committee meeting which addresses administrative matters prior to the annual Conference of States Parties. The ATT Management Committee is now reviewing the ATT program of work. This briefing offers recommendations for the Committee’s and State Parties’ consideration.
I would like to end with the opening declaration of the UN Program of Action zero draft outcome document, “A renewed commitment to peace, security, and sustainable development by preventing, combating and eradicating the illicit trade and diversion of small arms and light weapons”…This aims to reduce human suffering, gender-based violence; enhance participation of women in the electoral process, strengthen democracy and ensure a more peaceful and environmentally peaceful world thereby SAVING LIVES in line with the preamble to the UN Charter:
“We the Peoples of the United Nations Determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war…..”
Conclusion: There is a continued strong lobby of the so-called “international community” who continue to promote wars one after another, for their own profit maximization. The democratic deficit at the UN in terms of veto power at the Security Council needs to change as even now we cannot enforce UN General Assembly resolutions on ceasefire in Ukraine and Gaza. Only a Parliament at the UN could defeat the vested interest of this dominant power structure.
[i]https://docs-library.unoda.org/Programme_of_Action_on_Small_Arms_and_Light_Weapons_-Review_Conference_(2024)/2024_05_13_Zero_Draft_Outcome_Document.pdf
[ii] https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/3698694
[iii] https://www.saferworld-global.org/resources/publications/913-saferworld-our-history