04 February 2000

Holum on Illicit Trafficking in Small Arms, Light Weapons

"The dirty business of illicit small arms trafficking fuels conflict, fortifies extremism, and destabilizes entire regions," and both government and non-governmental officials must keep working at addressing the problem, Holum said in remarks February 4 to a Small Arms Working Group meeting at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.

"Rest assured that the United States will continue to do its part, and to be a global leader in this fight," he said.

Remarks of John D. Holum Senior
Advisor for Arms Control and International Security
Small Arms Working Group Meeting
Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Washington, DC
February 4, 2000
Illicit Trafficking in Small Arms and Light Weapons: U.S. Perspectives and Priorities

Introduction

I am delighted to be here this morning to participate in this panel discussion and to contribute to what I anticipate will be a useful dialogue. Over the past five years, curbing the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons has become an international imperative, leading to a virtual explosion of initiatives, with increasingly positive results. I have been asked to address the various efforts underway to advance these efforts. I will also outline U.S. priorities for the coming year, which promises to be another active one in the small arms arena.

Scope Of The Problem

Arms controllers tend to focus most of their attention on the perceived bigger challenges posed by weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems. But the dangers of illicit trafficking and accumulation of small arms and light weapons can be no less devastating and, indeed, even more real. Weapons of mass destruction have the potential to wipe out whole cities at a time. Small arms routinely do wipe out the equivalent of whole cities, a few people at a time. In fact, small arms are responsible for the most of the killing and injuries in the increasing number of intrastate conflicts that have occurred since the end of the Cold War.

Small arms and light weapons fall into six major categories: revolvers and self loading pistols; sub-machine guns; machine guns; grenades; anti-tank weapons; and anti-aircraft weapons. They include assault rifles, light and heavy machine guns, rocket propelled grenades, and individually portable mortars and missiles.

The relatively inexpensive unit price of small arms stands in stark contrast to their high social cost. Many of the world's poorest countries spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying small arms. Funds are diverted, crops are mortgaged, and relief supplies are stolen to finance these purchases. At each end, as the taxed and the target, the people are the losers.

Small arms and light weapons are insidious, not just because they are so easily acquired and concealed, but because they are so durable. Many of the small arms found in Africa, for example, date from World Wars I and II. Moreover, the sources of small arms are diverse and often illicit, making efforts to identify and curtail their proliferation extremely difficult.

Despite the numerous challenges, the enormous destructive potential and destabilizing impact of these weapons make efforts to curb their import, export, and stockpiling an urgent issue. Thankfully, it is one the global community recently has come to embrace, with a number of complementary efforts in every region and in a variety of multilateral fora.

Initiatives Underway

Efforts to address the small arms problem began in earnest in the mid-1990s, and they've since expanded in both scope and number.

The Summit of the Americas declaration in 1994 launched the first regionally focused effort. The Western Hemisphere is still breaking new ground in this area with an ambitious effort to implement the Inter American (OAS) Convention Against the Illicit Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, and Other Related Materials. To date, ten OAS members have ratified the Convention. All but four have signed. The United States submitted the Convention for Senate ratification in 1998, and hopes to secure ratification this year.

While small arms and light weapons initiatives took hold first in this hemisphere, today they are underway in virtually every region. More and more countries are confronting the reality that regional growth and prosperity cannot be divorced from regional stability and security. Ongoing efforts include:

• building and enhancing enforcement and legal capacities;

• providing training on export controls and customs practices;

• improving transparency;

• strengthening sanctions against embargo violators;

• discouraging irresponsible exports;

• enhancing stockpile security; and

• destroying surplus stocks.

Over the past 18 months Africa, in particular, has been the focus of much of this work. A number of African sub-regional efforts are already in place and more are planned. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is moving ahead on its Moratorium on the Importation, Exportation, and Manufacture of Small Arms and Light Weapons, while the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has initiated an effort focused on its member states. With strong U.S. backing, a U.N. Institute for Crime Prevention is being established in Kampala, Uganda, which will complement the Headquarters of the ECOWAS Moratorium at Bamako, Mali and the small arms activities of the U.N. Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament in Lome, Togo. Later this month, a Conference will be held in Kenya to address problems of small arms in East Africa. And the Organization of African Unity (OAU) is sponsoring a series of sub-regional conferences throughout the coming year to help the region prepare for the international U.N. Small Arms Conference in 2001.

In Asia, certain countries -- most notably Japan and Australia -- have played an active and important role in the small arms arena. However, the region overall is just beginning to focus on the impact of small arms regionally; during the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting last fall, the issue was added to the ARF agenda for discussion at the next meeting.

A number of multilateral organizations have put small arms on their respective agendas. The European Union (EU) has been especially active, developing a Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers, a Program for Preventing and Combating Illicit Trafficking in Conventional Arms, and a Joint Action on Small Arms. Last December, the EU and the U.S. signed a Joint Statement of Principles that included U.S. support for the EU Code of Conduct and the establishment of a working group with ten action items. The United States also agreed with Norway to pursue jointly a number of stockpile destruction projects.

The G-8 and the Wassenaar Arrangement are also addressing aspects of the issue. For example, Wassenaar members are working to achieve agreement this year on a proposal to control MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems). The Stability Pact, NATO's Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), and the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE) also have proposals under active consideration.

At the global level, ad hoc groups like the so-called Oslo Group, are engaged. The United Nations has adopted an especially active and hands-on approach to the small arms problem. The experts studies produced by the U.N. during the past five years have helped members better understand the scope of the problem, assess implementation efforts, and determine priorities for action. And last fall, the U.N. Security Council convened a Small Arms Ministerial Meeting.

Current U.N. efforts will culminate with the international conference in 2001 in New York to address the illicit arms trade in all its aspects. This Conference will be used to galvanize international attention and draw up a "global action plan" to address the problem. Preparations for that Conference begin this month in New York.

Another key global initiative underway, one we hope will reach successful conclusion this year, is the effort to reach agreement on an Illicit Firearms and Ammunition Trafficking Protocol to the UN Transnational Organized Crime Convention.

U.S. Efforts And Priorities:

The United States is a leader on this issue. Secretary of State Albright has delivered major speeches on small arms over the past two years, and has also stressed it in congressional testimony and internal deliberations. U.S. initiatives include, first, expanding our own "best practices" such as adopting model regulations on legal trade drafted by the OAS, and encouraging stronger steps elsewhere, including steps to criminalize UN embargo violations, institute strict end-use and arms brokering controls, promote greater transparency by sharing information on transfers and violations, and curb re-transfers of weapons. The U.S. provides financial and technical support to a host of small arms and light weapons initiatives in Latin America, Africa, and Europe and has led the way in the area of stockpile security and voluntary destruction of surplus stocks of still-lethal weapons.

The U.S. believes strongly that the international response to small arms problems must continue to be balanced between demand and supply-side approaches, to be multidimensional, and to be pursued coherently in all appropriate venues. We will continue to oppose efforts that attempt to impose a single, sweeping, top-down solution. Such efforts ignore innovative efforts developed by those facing the problems daily, and overlook as well the diverse character of the challenge from country to country and region to region.

However, one hazard of a multidimensional approach is the potential for duplication or diffusion of efforts. So, while welcoming the abundance of good ideas and initiatives, it will be important to ensure that they are complimentary rather than competitive and that our resources are channeled toward achieving common objectives.

For the coming year, U.S. priorities are:

1. To complete by the end of the year negotiation of the Firearms Protocol to the International Transnational Organized Crime Convention (TOC).

   A second reading of the draft Protocol began in Vienna in October of last year, and negotiations resumed last month. We are optimistic that negotiations will succeed, but concerted efforts will be needed to keep them on track and exclude extraneous issues from the Protocol.

2. To support agreement on guidelines to restrict transfers of Man-Portable Defense Systems (MANPADS) in the Wassenaar Arrangement.

   The United States introduced this proposal in Wassenaar, and it has been adopted as a Wassenaar initiative. While there is agreement in principle to pursue the proposal, and countries remain committed to discussing the issue, the four-rounds of negotiations to date -- including during the 1999 assessment -- have not produced agreement. We will keep the issue on the agenda, and keep working to narrow remaining differences.

3. To increase transparency of transfers of small arms and light weapons.

   The U.S. has established itself as a leader in the small arms transparency, setting a global standard through its Section 655 reporting requirements. The U.S. is encouraging other countries to adopt the Section 655 report as a model for their own transparency efforts. In Wassenaar, the U.S. has proposed expanding the current seven reporting categories to seventeen, and has encouraged members to report separately on arms sold to non-Wassenaar countries. Finally, the U.S. is proposing that member countries report all arms transfers to zones of conflict.

4. To coordinate and assist efforts both to secure military stockpiles of SA/LW against loss and theft, as well as to destroy surplus stocks of SA/LW, particularly in areas of conflict and post-conflict.

   Unsecured stockpiles are a main source of weapons to thieves and illicit traffickers. The U.S. has destroyed or assisted in the destruction of weapons stockpiles in a number of countries, including Liberia, Albania, Kuwait, Haiti, and Panama. We have provided assistance as part of the KFOR and SFOR peacekeeping missions. And we have a number of destruction projects in the planning stage, including cooperative efforts with Norway in Southeastern Europe.

While good efforts are underway, the U.S. believes that this aspect of the small arms problem needs still greater attention. Measures to secure active stocks and destroy excess weapons are cheap, often costing just pennies a weapon for large stocks. We could reap large dividends by curbing crime and insecurity, reducing the threat to development, and allowing the reconstruction of societies attempting to recover from civil war and/or ethnic conflicts.

The unfortunate reality is that there are huge quantities of small arms and light weapons in circulation, both those left over from the Cold War and the result of new production. Our efforts to control international transfers will produce little benefit for the populations most directly affected unless and until we are able to secure existing stocks and destroy surpluses.

Conclusion

The uncontrolled proliferation of small arms and light weapons remains an enormous problem, one that will not be easily or quickly solved. The dirty business of illicit small arms trafficking fuels conflict, fortifies extremism, and destabilizes entire regions. All of us whose nations sell such weapons, or through whose nations traffic flows, must help find effective ways to address the problem. And each of us represented here -- government officials, non-governmental representatives, legislators, and academics -- must continue our respective efforts toward that end.

Discussion of the issue and how best to move forward will remain a key part of the process. But there is no substitute for action. We need to press ahead with innovative, concrete, and workable measures for, as Secretary General Kofi Annan reminded us when he addressed African Ministers, every day that we fail to resolve our problems through political, not military means, innocent people around the world pay a terrible price. We owe them our very best efforts.

Rest assured that the United States will continue to do its part, and to be a global leader in this fight. Thank you.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)