18 July 2001

U.S. "Very Hopeful" for Successful Outcome at Small Arms Parley

There is "much common ground" among delegates to the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, and the United States "is working hard toward a successful outcome," for the meeting, the State Department says.

Deputy Spokesman Philip Reeker told reporters at the regular State Department briefing July 18 that there are "still several areas of concern to the U.S. in the U.N. draft document coming out of the conference," but "we remain very hopeful" that these will be resolved by the time the conference ends on July 20.

Following is the excerpt of the briefing dealing with the small arms conference:

(begin excerpt)

Q: Does the United States intend to oppose a verbal agreement on clamping down on firearms trafficking at the Small Arms Conference in New York?

Mr. Reeker: As you know, the Small Arms Conference is going on in New York. It began, I believe, on the 9th of this month and continues through Friday the 20th. It's a U.N.-hosted conference on the illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects. We certainly recognize the seriousness of the small arms and light weapons problem and the need for the international cooperation to address that problem. We had a background briefing here on the 6th of July which we can make a transcript available if you're interested in terms of going into that conference. UnderSecretary of State Bolton gave remarks at the conference on the 9th, and I believe Assistant Secretary of State for Political and Military Affairs Lincoln Bloomfield is going to New York to attend the conference today and tomorrow.

We in the United States have one of the strictest regimes in the world for controlling small arms and light weapons through licensing or brokers, export controls and end-use checks. And we would like other nations to commit to undertake similar measures in the U.N. document. There are still several areas of concern to the U.S. in the U.N. draft document coming out of the conference, and in particular, as I think we've made quite clear, we cannot accept measures which would constrain legal trade in small arms and light weapons or language which would restrict or prohibit civilian possession of small arms. But nevertheless, there is much common ground among conference participants on ways to address the serious small arms problem. And our delegation remains in New York working hard toward a successful outcome, and we remain very hopeful of achieving this by the time the conference ends on Friday.

(end excerpt)