International Committee of the Red Cross
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 26, 2006
6:03 AM
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CONTACT: International Committee of the Red Cross
Camilla Waszink, ICRC (in New York), tel: +1 917 678 2126
Ian Piper, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 20 63 or +41 79 217 3216 |
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Preventing Small-Arms Proliferation - Five-Year Review
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GENEVA - June 26 - Five years after the programme's adoption, this is the first worldwide opportunity to assess progress and decide future action.
Since 2001, a wide variety of steps have been taken at national and regional levels to limit the availability of small arms and light weapons. But it is still not possible to conclude that this process has reduced civilian casualties, afforded humanitarian organizations safer access to war zones, or produced a drop in the availability of illicit arms. The review conference will determine whether global efforts to prevent unregulated availability of such weapons are to be strengthened in the years to come.
"What is at stake here is the safety and well-being of countless people," said Peter Herby, head of the Mines-Arms Unit of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). "They face death and injury, displacement from their homes, threats to their livelihoods and constant fear of armed violence". It was critical, he said, for the discussions in New York to focus on the human costs of unregulated small arms proliferation, and not only legal and technical issues.
Participating as an observer at the Conference, the ICRC will urge governments to draw up a detailed plan to accelerate action on the issue. The ICRC believes governments should agree on standards that define when international arms transfers should not be authorized. Those standards should include a requirement not to transfer weapons that would be likely to be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.
The ICRC has also called on governments to take more robust international measures to prevent illegal arms brokering. By orchestrating illicit weapons transfers into certain conflict areas, some arms brokers knowingly facilitate continued violations of international humanitarian law. Yet they continue their activities with impunity because they are able to exploit weak and inconsistent national regulations. More attention should also be paid to controls on the supplying of ammunition, which in the short-term could save more lives than controls on the weapons themselves.
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