Controversial UN Small Arms Meeting Opens with Fanfare
July 10, 2006

by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

The United Nations (UN) meeting billed as a review of actions taken regionally and globally in what is described as a program of international action to stem the illegal trade of small arms and light weapons, got off to a wordy start in New York City on June 26.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan opened the session by urging government leaders to step up their efforts “to support—and enforce” the five-year-old blueprint for action to staunch the “unregulated flow” of guns and other weapons.

While Annan claimed that the conference was not negotiating a global ban on guns, “nor did it wish to deny law-abiding citizens their right to bear arms in accordance with national laws,” most observers find it difficult to address the issue of the illegal trade in small arms and light weapons without somehow infringing on the rights of civilians to acquire, possess and lawfully use firearms. What are considered strict gun laws in one nation may be considered very lax in a neighboring country. And most politicians and government leaders, well protected by their armed guards, don’t feel that any restriction on the sale or ownership of rifles, shotguns and handguns to private citizens is an infringement.

While many diplomats and journalists in the international media have tried to paint Americans’ concerns about a possible global gun control treaty as paranoid and “intentionally overblown,” the statements coming from the Control Arms Campaign, which includes Amnesty International, Oxfam International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), suggest otherwise.

Before the meeting concludes, all of these anti-gun groups and their allied governments and study groups will have made a series of presentations, mostly during the first week of the meeting. There will also be presentations made by several governments and non-government organizations (NGOs), including some pro-gun and industry groups like the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute (SAAMI), the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities, and the National Rifle Association. The Second Amendment Foundation will also be represented during the meetings.

Closed Doors
As with any politics, much of the discussions and negotiations will be taking place outside the UN headquarters, in government missions, restaurants and hotel rooms—most often behind closed doors.

It won’t always be smooth sailing. Several governments, including the US, seem willing to track exports and imports and to oversee the international distribution of arms, but refuse to buy into all of the controls that have been proposed or are being suggested. In addition, some countries, like China, have been angered by study reports from IANSA that paint that country as a principle arms supplier for trouble spots around the globe.

The Russians and others are sensitive to the same issue. The US State Department blocks any import or export unless it is satisfied with the transaction. Indeed, there are people in the industry who claim the State Department’s arms control policies can be bewildering if not obstructive. But not all countries are as scrupulous of international transactions.

Grassroots input from Americans may have surprised many UN diplomats and bureaucrats who are not used to hearing from average citizens. More than 100,000 letters of complaint from Americans who said any UN treaty could infringe on their constitutional right to bear arms were received by the president of the conference, Sri Lankan Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam. Those letters prompted him to speak out just days before the conference opened in an effort to defuse opposition.

The reports said many of the letters contained a form message available on the National Rifle Association website that complains the June 26-July 7 conference will take place on the July 4 Independence Day holiday, UN officials said. The message argues that the conference is meant to limit Americans’ right to carry firearms.

In a news conference on June 21, Kariyawasam said he had received more than 100,000 of the letters. He noted that the conference would not meet on July 4 because the UN headquarters is closed for the holiday.

Kariyawasam said the conference will focus only on efforts to ban the illegal sale of weapons and would have no impact on private ownership, but that’s not entirely true.

‘Non-Paper’
In the afternoon of the first day, Kariyawasam presented the conference’s program of work, chiefly regarding negotiations on the outcome document. Stressing that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” he said he would circulate an updated president’s “non-paper,” some 10 pages containing a composite text that could serve as the basis for a four-section document intended to be used by delegations as a starting point for negotiations. He warned that the outcome document must be completed by Thursday, July 6.

As the conference’s debate began, Raymond Johansen, State Secretary of Norway, said that the UN’s program of action was necessary to gain real control over arms transfers. While the public emphasis has been placed on illicit transfers and arms brokers, the emphasis keeps coming back to privately owned arms. In Johansen’s address, he said that while controls on arms brokers were sorely needed, “the conference should agree on guidelines to prevent misuse by private persons.

Other representatives also suggested that small arms in private trade must also be accounted for, so they do not slip into the “illegal” trade.

All of which suggests that the UN is facing the same problem as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is claiming he is only concerned with illegal guns but offers proposals that infringe on the rights of the law-abiding. And like Bloomberg, the UN doesn’t seem to be terribly respectful of the rights of gunowners.

The United States, including US Ambassador John Bolton, will participate in this year’s conference. A fact sheet on the US State Department website says the United States supports efforts to stem the illegal flow of small arms.

US mission spokesman Richard Grenell said his office has also gotten many letters from NRA members, just as it does from other non-governmental organizations before other major UN conferences.

“We have received thousands and thousands of letters from concerned members,” Grenell said. “We have been in discussion with the group (NRA) and understand their concerns.”

AK-103 Imports
But even as everyone was getting ready for the late June, early July UN meeting on small arms and light weapons, Associated Press (AP) reported that Venezuela on June 2 received 30,000 Russian-made assault rifles, the first shipment in a deal for 100,000 rifles.

Defense Minister Orlando Maniglia said the AK-103 rifles and ammunition were being unloaded in Puerto Cabello, about 68 miles west of Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

Russia will deliver the remaining 70,000 rifles in two shipments, in August and October, Maniglia told government media, according to AP.

The rifles will replace aging Belgian FAL rifles bought in the 1950s, according to a statement from the vice president’s office.

The army’s commander, Gen. Raul Baduel, said that Venezuela, facing a US ban on arms sales, planned to set up factories to produce more of the rifles and ammunition under license from Russia.

Venezuela recently purchased 15 Russian military helicopters and is also considering buying Sukhoi fighter jets and other Russian planes.

Small arms are only one of the UN meeting’s concerns; there have also been proposals to strictly regulate ammunition sales. Keep tuned for the final outcome on July 6.
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