AG/RES. 1968 (XXXIII-O/03)

PROLIFERATION OF AND ILLICIT TRAFFICKING IN SMALL ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS 

(Resolution adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 10, 2003) 

            THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 

            Having seen the Annual Report of the Permanent Council to the General Assembly (AG/doc.4156/03 add. 4), in particular the section on the matters entrusted to the Committee on Hemispheric Security; 

RECALLING: 

The Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (CIFTA); and 

            Its resolutions AG/RES. 1642 (XXIX-O/99), AG/RES. 1744 (XXX-O/00), AG/RES. 1796 (XXXI-O/01), AG/RES. 1797 (XXXI-O/01), and AG/RES. 1888 (XXXII-O/02), "Proliferation of and Illicit Trafficking in Small Arms and Light Weapons," and the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects; 

            REAFFIRMING member states’ commitment to respect the United Nations Security Council arms embargoes through the adoption, as may be necessary, of appropriate national norms; 

            ENCOURAGED by the technical and financial assistance available for the destruction of surplus weapons and illegal weapons seized as a result of interdicting illicit trafficking; 

            CONVINCED of the need to continue and to intensify multilateral cooperation as an important contribution to addressing the problems associated with the proliferation of and illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons; and 

NOTING the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of an international protocol to combat the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and components and ammunition, in the framework of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; and 

ACKNOWLEDGING: 

The importance of the work and training programs of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) to develop the capacity of member states to address the proliferation of and illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons, and the need to continue and intensify multilateral cooperation to address these issues; and 

The important efforts of the CICAD Experts Group on the Control of Firearms, which convened from April 7 to 9, 2003, in Managua, Nicaragua, to prepare model brokering regulations for adoption by the states of the Hemisphere, 

RESOLVES: 

1.         To encourage member states to implement the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (UN Programme of Action). 

2.         To request the Permanent Council to hold, at the level of the Committee on Hemispheric Security, an annual meeting on small arms and light weapons, which would review the status of implementation of national, regional, and global elements of the UN Programme of Action. 

3.         To encourage member states to report to the United Nations on their implementation of national, regional, and global elements of the UN Programme of Action and to request that they provide the same report to the General Secretariat, by July 15 of each year. 

4.         To commend member states that have submitted their reports on the implementation of the UN Programme of Action. 

5.         To continue to encourage member states to adopt such measures concerning arms brokering as may be necessary to combat the illicit trafficking in firearms. 

6.         To request that the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), in consultation with the Consultative Committee of the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (CIFTA), continue its training programs in order to contribute to the capabilities of member states to implement CIFTA and the UN Programme of Action. 

7.         To request CICAD, the Consultative Committee of CIFTA, and the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism to continue to deepen their cooperation and strengthen coordination of their activities, as appropriate. 

8.         To request the General Secretariat to make arrangements, in coordination with the Inter-American Defense College, for a seminar on identification, collection, stockpile management, and destruction of small arms and light weapons. 

9.         To encourage member states to adopt the proposed confidence- and security- building measures, set out in the Consensus of Miami:  Declaration by the Experts on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures:  Recommendations to the Summit-Mandated Special Conference on Security, which call on member states to identify and secure excess stocks of small arms and light weapons as well as seized small arms and light weapons, and, in accordance with their national laws and the international agreements to which they are party, to define programs for the destruction of said weapons and to invite international representatives to observe their destruction. 

10.        To encourage member states that have not done so to consider signing or ratifying the United Nations Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition. 

11.        To instruct the Permanent Council and the General Secretariat, as the case may be, to carry out the activities mentioned in this resolution within the resources allocated in the program-budget of the Organization and other resources. 

12.        To request the Secretary General to transmit this resolution to the United Nations Secretary-General. 

13.        To request the Permanent Council and the Secretary General to report on the implementation of this resolution to the General Assembly at its thirty-fourth regular session.