Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 11th April. UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu on Monday briefed the members of the Security Council and told to implement global tools to control the trade and transfer of weapons from tracing instruments, to export rules, to safe storage guidelines and beyond is crucial to prevent arms from falling into the wrong hands.
Izumi Nakamitsu said “Emanating from any arms transfer is the inherent risk of diversion of the equipment to unauthorized end users,”.
She was addressing the Council during the first open meeting under the Russia’s presidency.
Izumi Nakamitsu emphasized that measures to counter weapons diversion contribute significantly to global peace and security, especially conflict prevention.
The illicit and unregulated trade and the diversion of weapons and their ammunition, has long been a major concern for the international community, she said.
She added illicit and unregulated arms transfers can instigate fuel and prolong armed conflict, armed violence, terrorism and crime.
Top official told the Council that they can destabilize entire regions, contribute to and enable human rights abuses, and lead to violations of arms embargoes.
She said to respond to such risks, States have established a number of international, regional, and bilateral arms control treaties, agreements and frameworks to prevent and eradicate the illicit trade and diversion of conventional arms, to regulate their international arms trade, and to promote transparency in weapons transfers.
She stressed that the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons, the International Tracing Instrument, and the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition are crucial. .
She urged Mmber States to comply fully with their obligations under the agreements to which they are parties.
Ms. Nakamitsu called for robust frameworks for effective control over the export, brokering, import, transit, storage and retransfer of weapons and ammunition.
She said any transfers of arms and ammunition should also include pre-transfer risk assessments and post-shipment controls, such as on-site inspection and end-user verifications.
She reiterated that preventing the diversion of weapons into the wrong hands requires strong cooperation and information exchange between importing, transit, and exporting States, as well as critical tracing systems.
Ms. Nakamitsu emphasized that transparency in armament shipments can serve as a confidence-building measure between States, reducing tensions, ambiguities and misperceptions.
She spotlighted the UN Register of Conventional Arms, which was created in 1992 and urged all Member States to participate in it by reporting on the exports and imports of all equipment that falls under the Register’s seven categories of arms and light weapons.
Ms. Nakamitsu called on States that have not yet done so to join the Arms Trade Treaty, and on all countries to consider the differential impact of the illicit trade of arms and ammunition on women, men, girls and boys.
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