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Reuters |
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The United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice is expected to approve a resolution this week to urge countries to impose tighter restrictions on gun ownership and export. "We strongly believe that effective national regulation is important to international controls, particularly on the illicit movement of small arms," Australian commission delegate Daryl Smeaton told Reuters.
The controversial issue of gun control came under the spotlight in Australia and Britain last year following the massacre of 35 people at the Tasmanian tourist resort of Port Arthur and the murder of 17 people, mostly children, at a school in the Scottish town of Dunblane.
In the first comparative study of its kind from 50 countries around the world, a U.N. report showed that 41 percent of U.S. households owned at least one gun, compared with 16 percent in Australia and four percent in Britain.
Smeaton said there was no plan for a legally binding convention on gun control but that the resolution looked likely to have broad support from member states, including the United States, despite pressure from the powerful gun lobby.
The commission is holding its sixth session in Vienna which is due to end on Friday.
"At this stage we understand that the U.S. will be able to support the resolution as it is drafted and that is a very, very encouraging sign," Smeaton said.
The study showed that around 14 people per 100,000 die annually in the United States from firearms-related deaths, including homicides, suicides and accidents. That amounts to 37,000 people in a population of 265 million.
Burkina Faso had the highest figure at 26 people per 100,000, followed by Jamaica with 18 per 100,000.
Smeaton said the key measures proposed in the resolution to improve gun control were: appropriate penalties for misuse, effective record keeping of firearms, a licensing system of manufacturers and firearm owners, effective identification procedures and safe storage measures.
"We have certainly got good statistical evidence that shows where you do introduce regulation to control the use of firearms you can cause dramatic reductions in homicide and suicide rates," he noted.
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U.N. presses for action on worldwide gun control
United Nations (UN) and Gun Control NO BOUNDARIES TO CLINTON'S GUN BAN AGENDA
THE INTERNATIONAL PUSH FOR GUN CONTROL
State Department Negotiating Global Gun Control Deals
THE UN GUN GRAB IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
UNITED NATIONS GOES FOR GLOBAL GUN CONTROL
UN Urged to Act Against Small Arms
PROponent article: "UN Declaration of Principles on Firearms"
UN Small Arms Panel Makes Progress
|
NO BOUNDARIES TO CLINTON'S GUN BAN AGENDA NRA-ILA FAX ALERT Vol. 3, No. 15 4/5/96 |
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11250 Waples Mill Road * Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone: 1-800-392-8683 * Fax: 703-267-3918
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U.N. presses for action on worldwide gun control
United Nations (UN) and Gun Control NO BOUNDARIES TO CLINTON'S GUN BAN AGENDA
THE INTERNATIONAL PUSH FOR GUN CONTROL
State Department Negotiating Global Gun Control Deals
THE UN GUN GRAB IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
UNITED NATIONS GOES FOR GLOBAL GUN CONTROL
UN Urged to Act Against Small Arms
PROponent article: "UN Declaration of Principles on Firearms"
UN Small Arms Panel Makes Progress
|
by Joseph P. Tartaro, Executive Editor |
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"Japan will propose in the coming UN General Assembly a declaration calling for global controls to curb illegal trade in firearms," The Times said it had heard from government sources in Tokyo.
"Until the opening of the UN session in the fall, Japan, which has one of the strictest gun laws in the world, will try to promote its anti-gun drive among UN member states." The Times claimed to have learned from the same Japanese sources.
The story claimed that Japan had already sounded out more than 20 countries on an unofficial basis, seeking their support for the declaration drafted by the Japanese.
The draft, which has yet to be finalized by the Foreign Ministry, the National Police Agency (NPA) and other Japanese government agencies concerned, will also be submitted to a UN conference on crime prevention scheduled to be held in Cairo next month.
Other reports indicated that the declaration would also be presented at a UN Disarmament Committee Conference this spring.
Exporting Problems
The decision to draft the international gun control declaration, which would be the first on illegal firearms to be discussed by the world body, comes in response to a wave of shootings around the country involving ordinary citizens, according to The Times. However, other news sources have indicated that the citizens involved are far from ordinary. Those reports reflect a growing tide of violence associated with organized Japanese crime syndicates which are allied with Japanese business interests. Many of the victims of the recent shootings have been business executives or individuals with links to organized crime. One effect of the Japanese plan would be not to solve their internal problem, but to export it.
According to NPA sources, 248 shooting incidents had occurred in Japan in 1994. A total of 38 persons died as a result, an increase of 11 over previous years. Shooting deaths of citizens with no ties to the warring crime factions rose to 12 during the year.
Japan's tradition of disarming the average citizen dates back centuries, when only the elite Samurai class were allowed to possess edged weapons, bows and spears. After a brief period of experiment with military use of firearms centuries ago, Japanese leaders even rejected the military use of firearms until the modern era, which began in the late 19th century. Japanese military and police are armed with modern firearms, but all firearms in civilian possession for sporting use are strictly regulated and practically no handguns are allowed, except for a limited number of recognized competitors. The idea of owning firearms for self and community defense is foreign to the Japanese.
(The best short-form background report on the Japanese experience with the regulation of firearms and swords can be found in The Samurai, The Mountie, and The Cowboy by David B. Kopel, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY, 1992).
US State Department
There is every indication that the Japanese international gun control declaration will get support from the Clinton Administration's State Department. Under the direction of Secretary Warren Christopher there has already been an effort to regulate not only the importation of firearms from other countries, but even the export.
The Russian Federation and other states that were formerly part of the Soviet Union have been prevented from exporting even common sporting-type shotguns to the US. The former Eastern Bloc countries, in desperate need of hard currency exports, have thus been deprived of a ready market for shotguns, rifles and even surplus military pistols.
The most recent Clinton trade deal renewing the "most favored nation status" for China includes a prohibition on the importation of certain firearms and ammunition from that country, particularly the SKS Sporter.
These are just two examples applying to imports. Significantly, the Clinton State Department also tries to discourage US commercial arms exports to other countries. At a State Department briefing of the American Shooting Sports Council (ASSC) members attending a Washington, DC, Fly-In, one of several government agency briefings on Feb. 6, a State Department representative made a startling revelation. When applications for export licenses for the types of semi-automatic arms banned in the US under the Clinton "Crime Bill" are reviewed, the State Department contacts the embassies of the country to which they are being sold to inquire if they really want such guns. The foreign diplomats are reminded that the guns are prohibited for sale in the US and it is suggested that the foreign countries shouldn't really want them imported.
When the State Department spokesperson was asked if it was not the purpose of her department to promote exports to redress the horrible situation with regard to the US deficit in balance of trade payments, the official responded tersely, "Yes."
That one word made it clear that this State Department, at least, would pass judgment on US-manufactured goods and decide which were benign and which were not.
Different Traditions
Perhaps none of this comes unexpected from the most rabidly anti- firearms, anti-Second Amendment Administration in US history. But it does help provide an advance look at how the Clinton cabinet will deal with the Japanese declaration for international standards for control of civilian firearms in this and other countries. None of it will surprise those who believe the Administration as well as the United Nations are committed to a policy of uniform "one world government" or "new world order" as it was referred to in the Bush years.
This column is not intended as Japan-bashing or UN-bashing. I earned a blue UN military service ribbon during the Korean War and I have lived in Japan for many months. But while there is much to be admired in the Japanese culture, there are many traditions that are totally incomprehensible to the Western-way of thinking. Most people would not block the arrival of French-contributed dogs trained to sniff survivors in the rubble of a disaster as the Japanese did after the recent Kobe earthquake. Nor would we do the same with donations of medicine and other supplies, or adopt other policies which are foreign to our traditions of charity.
Similarily, while there are many useful purposes for the United Nations, imposing an international standard on every small country by force is not one of them. The fiascoes in Somalia, Angola and Bosnia are a good example of why not. Nor is the concept of an international supergovernment which controls the internal affairs of every member nation.
Yet many political leaders in the US, including Clinton, Christopher and many in Congress, are internationalists who keep inching us away from national sovereignty. This becomes extremely dangerous when no other country has the same historical connection to individual liberty and a republican government as the US. Why the Japanese, the British or anyone else adopts a particular set of laws is not just a matter of legislation. Such acts are also linked to the traditions, culture and philosophy of the people who are the citizens of a nation.
If you don't understand what the American differences are, simply ask one of the people who emigrated to America from the other countries. Most of them can easily see the difference, and prefer what we have here, with all our problems, than what they left behind.
This column originally appeared in the Mar. 10, 1995 issue of The New Gun Week. It is being reprinted here because imminent announcements in the area of international restrictions on civilian arms make it appear particularly prophetic.
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U.N. presses for action on worldwide gun control
United Nations (UN) and Gun Control NO BOUNDARIES TO CLINTON'S GUN BAN AGENDA
THE INTERNATIONAL PUSH FOR GUN CONTROL
State Department Negotiating Global Gun Control Deals
THE UN GUN GRAB IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
UNITED NATIONS GOES FOR GLOBAL GUN CONTROL
UN Urged to Act Against Small Arms
PROponent article: "UN Declaration of Principles on Firearms"
UN Small Arms Panel Makes Progress
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from the New Gun Week, May 10, 1996, p.01 |
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The Wassenaar Arrangement represents the on-going work of delegates from the United States and 27 other countries, including Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, the Russian Federation and most of Europe. The Wassenaar Arrangement may or may not be related to ongoing civilian disarmament discussions also being carried forward under United Nations auspices.
The Wassenaar Arrangement would prohibit international trade in just about any small arms except muskets, rifles and carbines manufactured before 1938, reproductions of long guns which were manufactured before 1890, and revolvers, pistols and machine guns manufactured before 1890. Shotguns specifically intended for sporting use would be permitted, but any of the new caseless ammunition rifles and handguns would be prohibited. No accessories for any of the prohibited guns, which would include examples of just about every military style rifle, shotgun or handgun of World War II or later, would be allowed.
Trade sources learned in Europe that only the Italians have expressed any serious reservations about the Wassenaar Arrangement as drafted.
This latest push for global gun control did not come as a surprise. Insiders in the firearms community have been tracking movement in the international gun control agenda for several years. Until the Clinton Administration took over the White House there had been little movement.
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U.N. presses for action on worldwide gun control
United Nations (UN) and Gun Control NO BOUNDARIES TO CLINTON'S GUN BAN AGENDA
THE INTERNATIONAL PUSH FOR GUN CONTROL
State Department Negotiating Global Gun Control Deals
THE UN GUN GRAB IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
UNITED NATIONS GOES FOR GLOBAL GUN CONTROL
UN Urged to Act Against Small Arms
PROponent article: "UN Declaration of Principles on Firearms"
UN Small Arms Panel Makes Progress
|
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As expected, the UN finally and formally turned its attention to the problem of an "increasing number of deaths from firearms" a few days ago when it announced the anticipated approval this week of a resolution urging countries to "impose tighter restrictions on gun ownership" and export. The UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, the body who will issue the resolution, is chaired by people who obviously have never heard of the US Constitution's Second Amendment--mostly because they're not from here--and probably wouldn't much care even if they had. For theirs is a mission bearing international implications; silly things such as a free people's notion of national sovereignty won't get in their way.
Australian commission delegate Daryl Smeaton told the Reuters News Agency last week that his body "strongly believes that effective national regulation is important to international controls, particularly on the illicit movement of small arms." He further stated that "we have certainly got good statistical evidence that shows where you do introduce regulation to control the use of firearms you can cause dramatic reductions in homicide and suicide rates." Bull stein.
Obviously there are some major problems with Smeaton's pronouncements, not only rooted in US law but in his statistical claims as well.
First and foremost, President Clinton and the State Department should have expressed immediate outrage over Smeaton's proposals, since the limiting of guns is a direct violation of the US Constitution. It's not unreasonable, is it, to expect our national leaders--and especially our president--to know what's written in the Constitution? Under this pretense, American officials shouldn't care less what other nations decide to do about private firearm ownership in their own countries, but should vehemently defend America's right to arm herself to the teeth if she sees fit.
Secondly, Smeaton's outrageous claim that he has 'good statistical evidence' that regulating guns controls crime and suicide must have been 'discovered' while he was smoking something he shouldn't have been. That revelation contradicts FBI data that says concealed carry laws have reduced crime in those states brave enough to allow their citizens protection. Additionally, the criminal element has never met a law that couldn't be broken, especially gun control laws. An inability to control crime with effective enforcement criminals effectively, is the main reason why there has been an increase in all forms of violence. This fact is certainly true in the US, where crime is at an all-time high because it has been artificially inflated not by gun proliferation but by widespread liberal criminal justice and the debasement of morality.
How naive Smeaton must be to believe that international gun control will even work. Just recently the Chinese government tried to smuggle weapons into the US, but instead of being chastized for it, they were 'constructively engaged' and given special status among politicians whose obligations to the nation were much less important than their obligations to their wallets. With this kind of duplicity, can people take any so-called gun control measure these people conjure up seriously?
In reality, despite the utopian fantasy of curbing all forms of violence--gun violence is just the first presupposition made by the UN--it will never be eradicated as long as human beings populate this planet. It is not in our human nature for 100 percent of us to be civil all of the time. If it weren't for guns, then people would just find other ways to kill each other, just as they did before gunpowder was invented. That fact falls into the 'sad but true' catagory.
Furthermore, why is it so hard to realize that nations and peoples who have no means to resist tyranny will be enslaved? There are so many examples of this throughout history--many of them recently--that it's hard to imagine the concept going unnoticed. Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini disarmed all of their "subjects" before beginning their reigns of terror. And what chance did Chinese students have against an well-armed government in 1989? Conversely, well-armed Chechen rebels are holding their own against an encroaching Russian government, as as the Chiapans in Mexico because they have the means to resist.
The UN's constant attempts to force policy on sovereign nations--instead of act merely as the go-between when two nations are in conflict with each other, which was it's original (and only) mandate--has gone beyond the merely bothersome. But because of willing American and foreign officials, this body now feels empowered to do the policymaking for everybody, and quite simply this needs to stop. Ill-advised treaties ratified by the US Senate usually start out these days as "policy initiatives" forwarded by the United Nations. One wonders if the Senate has lost all sense of reality and expects to someday soon inform 80 million Americans they can no longer own a firearm.
God help us if they are that stupid. ***
Jon Dougherty is the associate producer for The Derry Brownfield Show, host of the JD Live! Show, nationally syndicated radio talk shows.
*"The JD Live! Show" Starring Jon Dougherty and Kathleen Keating
"The Discovery Process (c)"--M-F @ 3pm EST on WRMI 9.955.
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JON E. DOUGHERTY
USA FEATURES MEDIA CO.
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U.N. presses for action on worldwide gun control
United Nations (UN) and Gun Control NO BOUNDARIES TO CLINTON'S GUN BAN AGENDA
THE INTERNATIONAL PUSH FOR GUN CONTROL
State Department Negotiating Global Gun Control Deals
THE UN GUN GRAB IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
UNITED NATIONS GOES FOR GLOBAL GUN CONTROL
UN Urged to Act Against Small Arms
PROponent article: "UN Declaration of Principles on Firearms"
UN Small Arms Panel Makes Progress
|
(c) 08/24/97 Ian Williams Goddard |
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NEW YORK -- In an effort to reduce firearm-related crime and violence worldwide, a U.N. commission is drafting recommendations it hopes will curb gun ownership and use. ... The draft resolution, passed without objection last month by the 54-member U.N. Economic and Social Committee, encourages member states to consider adopting regulations dealing with illegal or unsafe use of firearms.
Such U.N. promoted regulations would include (a) licensing of all firearms businesses, (b) amnesty programs for the surrender of privately owned illegal firearms, (c) mandatory gun safety training where ownership is legal, (d) standard- ized penalties for firearms violations, and (e) creating a universal serial-number system to keep track of all privately owned firearms.
The Times cited reasons given by U.N. officials as to why such global gun control is necessary:
In North America, for example, firearms might be closely linked with robbery and homicides.
The illicit-drug trade is a primary cause of robbery and homicide, but if we ignore that fact we can promote more prohibitions lead- ing to yet more negative side-effects. While illicit drugs enrich the super-mega-wealthy through trafficking and money laundering, gun control would disarm their workers.
In Washington D.C., with one of the highest rates of homicide in the U.S., private gun ownership is 100% illegal, giving armed thugs free rein to exploit an unarmed population. Since firearms are the last defense of private property, armed thugs profit from gun control. Another U.N. reason for global gun control:
In Africa and the Balkins, he said, gun trafficking is tied to civil unrest.
If we could stop the flow of guns to those ethnic subsets targeted for extermination in Africa and the Balkins we could indeed reduce the amount of "civil unrest." For example, consider two Nazi death camps, in Nazi camp 1 all prisoners are unarmed, in 2 all are armed. There will be more "unrest" in Nazi camp 2. To maximize "civil rest" the Nazis enforced 100% gun control to keep prisoners unarmed. It seems that the U.N. has similar plans.
The last example given by a U.N. official for gun control is an example of the need FOR the traffic in firearms to people in areas where they are being targeted for extermination.
Firearms can defend the weak and can thereby ensure justice. All gun control measures work toward building a monopoly of gun ownership by the central authorities, who are those with the maximum strength. By definition, gun control strengthens the strong and weakens the weak, and in so doing, gun control will tend to maximize injustice.
While the U.N. is very concerned about private citizens with private guns killing other people, perhaps we should consider the fact that central authorities have murdered tens of millions WITH THE AID OF GUN CONTROL. Gun control is a key to tyranny, exploitation, and mass murder.
How many slaves had a right to gun ownership? How many Nazi death-camp prisoners had a right to keep and bear arms? Some people want to be like slaves and Nazi prisoners, many people in power want others to be like slaves and Nazi prisoners, those who love freedom do not.
___________________________________________________
[*] THE WASHINGTON TIMES: U.N. Eyes Curbs on Owning Firearms. By Betsy Pisik, August 24, 1997, A1-A7.
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U.N. presses for action on worldwide gun control
United Nations (UN) and Gun Control NO BOUNDARIES TO CLINTON'S GUN BAN AGENDA
THE INTERNATIONAL PUSH FOR GUN CONTROL
State Department Negotiating Global Gun Control Deals
THE UN GUN GRAB IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
UNITED NATIONS GOES FOR GLOBAL GUN CONTROL
UN Urged to Act Against Small Arms
PROponent article: "UN Declaration of Principles on Firearms"
UN Small Arms Panel Makes Progress
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By Charles J. Hanley |
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Such a conference could prepare a treaty controlling the international trade.
The U.S. National Rifle Association quickly criticized the report, saying it was not a ''proper subject area'' for the world organization. But one panel member described it as only a first step.
The still-unpublished document, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, will be submitted for approval to the 1997-98 General Assembly session, which opened Tuesday. It is the product of a year's work by the Panel of Governmental Experts on Small Arms, comprising representatives of 16 nations.
''This report recommends a set of practical measures to reduce the weapons already in circulation and to prevent future accumulations,'' U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a foreword urging endorsement.
The General Assembly ordered the U.N. study in 1995 to investigate ways ''to prevent and reduce the excessive and destabilizing accumulation and transfer of small arms and light weapons.''
Among other things, the report recommends that the United Nations:
--Support, possibly through peacekeeping troops, the destruction of small arms left over once conflicts are settled.
--Study the feasibility of high-tech ''marking'' of weapons from the time of manufacture, so they can be more easily traced.
--Study the possibility of restricting production and trade of small arms to manufacturers and dealers authorized by states, and establishing a global database of licensees.
The General Assembly is powerless to control the international arms trade. But Japan is seeking support for an assembly resolution authorizing a global conference, as the report recommends, on the illicit trade in small arms. Specialists estimate half the global gun trade is illegal.
Such a conference might work on a multilateral treaty setting standards, for the first time, on such things as weapon types and numbers in international commerce.
The Japanese, whose criminal gangs use guns smuggled from China and the United States, supported the panel with a $200,000 grant, enabling it to conduct workshops in southern Africa, Central America and south Asia, regions where flows of assault rifles and other light weapons have fed local conflicts.
''For us, small arms is something like the drug problem because we need to cut the supply to have an effect on society,'' said panel member Prasad Kariyawasam, a diplomat from Sri Lanka, where an insurgency thrives on weapons smuggled from abroad.
''The report is a first step,'' Kariyawasam said. ''If the international community can agree on convening a global conference, it will surely make headway on this.''
But the anti-gun control NRA said the international community has already gone too far.
''The U.N. shouldn't get involved in what we consider local issues properly left in the purview of sovereign states,'' said the NRA's Tom Mason, who appeared before the panel at one session. He said the proposals would ''in the long run probably impact legitimate users of firearms.''
But Washington's representative on the panel said the recommendations would not affect law-abiding Americans. ''There's nothing in this report that threatens any U.S. interests or law,'' said Herbert Calhoun, of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
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U.N. presses for action on worldwide gun control
United Nations (UN) and Gun Control NO BOUNDARIES TO CLINTON'S GUN BAN AGENDA
THE INTERNATIONAL PUSH FOR GUN CONTROL
State Department Negotiating Global Gun Control Deals
THE UN GUN GRAB IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
UNITED NATIONS GOES FOR GLOBAL GUN CONTROL
UN Urged to Act Against Small Arms
PROponent article: "UN Declaration of Principles on Firearms"
UN Small Arms Panel Makes Progress
|
RESOLUTION 19... |
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A draft of the study was done by an 11-member "experts" group and was presented this past April to the U.N. Commission on Crime Prevention in Vienna. It revealed a shallow attempt to justify and support U.N. gun control proposals instead of an objective investigation. An American expert on the panel walked out of the process, objecting to how "political it had become." Another expert said that the way the study was being done was "driven by Japanese money." The same expert, who wishes to remain unidentified, said the study ignored any research showing a legitimate defensive use for firearms. The only thing holding the Japanese from moving any faster was fear of the NRA and American protest to the repopulation. The study, which is 137 pages long, is incomplete and inconclusive.
Despite the shortcomings of the study, the Commission on Crime Prevention met April 28-May 9, 1997, and passed Resolution 19, "Firearms regulation for the purpose of crime prevention and public health and safety." It asks the U.N. Secretary-General to begin developing a "U.N. Declaration of Principles on Firearms."
Other provisions in repopulation 19 could have all nations legislate mandatory safety training, establish gun turn-in programs, license all gun owners and require registration of all firearms at all times, that is from date of manufacture throughout the life of the firearm. There is no mention in repopulation 19, or acknowledgment, of hunting, sport shooting or the legitimate and traditional role of civilian ownership of firearms.
Twenty countries spoke in favor of the repopulation including the United Kingdom and Australia by advocating the reduction of civilian firearms. India held that no civilian should ever have more than one firearm, and that self-defense was not a justification for ownership by civilians. The NRA representative was the lone voice in opposition.
The Japanese want a declarations, a condensation and eventually a U.N. agency for gun control. They are also trying to gain a seat on the U.N. Security Council, and are not afraid to spend their wealth to gain it. The Japanese also think that Americans have little patience or the wherewithal to withstand such a strong international movement. If the Japanese succeed in passing a treaty, it only needs to be ratified by the Senate to become the law of the U.S.
There will be four regional workshops on the Japanese proposal in 1997, with an experts meeting in 1998. The workshops will be held in Slovenia in September, Tanzania in October, Brazil in November and India in December. None of these countries allows it's subjects to keep and bear arms.
Two questions arise from this information that was taken from Tanya Metaxsa's article, "Global Gun Control Is On The March" in the August , 1997 issue of the American Rifleman. The first is: why do the Japanese want to disarm the world? And the second one is: why is Metaxsa protest against the possible U.N. Universal Declaration banning firearms? The NRA is the champion of instant check, which would be a first step in licensing all firearm owners in the United States according to the proposed U.N. treaty.
We have just celebrated the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If the Japanese disarm Americans, are they planning to take over the country? Yes, it does sound farfetched. Or do they want to erase the rest of the Bill of Rights so that America becomes more like Japan, with only 0.57% of the population owning firearms and very little civil rights for the rest of the subjects.
Americans must keep a vigilant watch on the shenanigans of the United nations and Japan. They already have models to disarm a country. Remember Great Britain and Australia.
____________________________________________________________
"The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is
the first and only legitimate object of good government."
Thomas Jefferson, March 31, 1809
___________________________________________________________
The PROponent
Peoples Rights Organization
3953 Indianola Ave Columbus, OH 43214 (614) 268-0122
Volume 9 August, 1997 Number 8
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U.N. presses for action on worldwide gun control
United Nations (UN) and Gun Control NO BOUNDARIES TO CLINTON'S GUN BAN AGENDA
THE INTERNATIONAL PUSH FOR GUN CONTROL
State Department Negotiating Global Gun Control Deals
THE UN GUN GRAB IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
UNITED NATIONS GOES FOR GLOBAL GUN CONTROL
UN Urged to Act Against Small Arms
PROponent article: "UN Declaration of Principles on Firearms"
UN Small Arms Panel Makes Progress
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by Dr. Natalie J. Goldring |
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At the meeting, the panel agreed on the general structure for its report to the Secretary-General, with the first two chapters providing an introduction to the panel's work and an overview of light weapons issues. The three remaining chapters will each address one aspect of the panel's mandate: the types of small arms and light weapons actually being used in conflicts being dealt with by the United Nations; the nature and causes of excessive accumulation and destabilizing transfer of these weapons, including their illicit production and trade; and ways and means to prevent and reduce such accumulations and transfers. (See "UN Experts Panel on Small Arms Faces Obstacles," BASIC Reports #54 for additional information.)
Definitions largely resolved
The panel has created a draft typology of the small arms and light weapons to be covered in its report, including all weapons, ammunitions, and explosives that are built to military specifications and are being used in conflicts being dealt with by the United Nations. In special circumstances, some non-military weapons that have been used in violent conflict and have been deemed to be destabilizing may also be included.
According to a Western representative on the panel, there are still significant questions about the upper limit of the definition of these weapons. The panel has reportedly decided to include all portable weapons, while excluding any weapons that are covered by the UN register of Conventional Arms. However, certain key issues, such as the definition of "portable," remain unresolved.
Disagreement over "nature and causes" of excessive transfers
Panel members still disagree over the causes of destabilizing transfers of small arms and light weapons. Some panel members interviewed for BASIC Reports emphasized the importance of "root causes," such as socio-economic factors, while others argued that military issues were more relevant. The Sri Lankan representative said that root causes were useful in understanding the factors that drive demand, but described this panel as a "disarmament effort," and said that illicit transfer "is the major issue that is contributing to destabilizing accumulation." While the Colombian representative agreed with his assessment of the importance of dealing with the illicit trade, she emphasized that, "Roots and causes are the starting point to talk about any recommendations and solutions." The Western representatives, concurred, saying "...we have to have the root causes, otherwise the report won't be complete."
Recommendations remain contentious
According to all of the panel members interviewed by BASIC Reports, it will be difficult to achieve consensus of recommendations. For example, the panel has not yet resolved a dispute over whether the UN Disarmament Commission's guidelines on illicit transfers should be the starting point for its recommendations. In addition, the Western representative said," We can't skew the report to any particular incident in any particular region." The Belgian representative agreed, saying, "The problem we will have to face is also to make general recommendations without specifying one cause in preference with others. We cannot say that the drug problem is the cause everywhere."
In interviews, panel members suggested many policy approaches. While some of these recommendations have already been discussed by the panel, there is no consensus on any of these issues.
-p. 4-
__________________________________________________________________
Recommendations mentioned by panel members included national transparency with respect to the types of weapons in different countries and the weapons that have been captured, as well as stronger border controls and improved training for customs officials. Stressing the importance of strong national legislation, the Colombian representative told BASIC Reports, "We know that if legislation is not strong enough in regard to the arms of a particular country, it is likely that these arms will flow outside the country."
Regional options under consideration include regional buy-back programs and using the destruction of weapons in Mali and the proposed regional moratorium on light weapons import, export, and manufacture as a model for other regions. Panel members are interested in regional registers dealing with small arms, but expressed doubts about the feasibility of expanding the global UN Register of Conventional Arms. At the international level, the panel is considering international codes of conduct and an international conference to draw attention to the light weapons issue.
NGO controversy continues
Controversy over the role of NGOs in the experts' panel's deliberations continued during the recent panel meeting in New York. A representative of the US-based National Rifle Association (NRA), which was granted UN NGO status last fall, demanded to be allowed to brief the panel. Although the request for a briefing was refused, he distributed a paper to several panel members which presented the organization's rationale for involvement in this effort.
During the fall 1996 meeting, some panel members seemed intimidated by the NRA's presence; after the January meeting, several panelists dismissed the NRA's relevance to the panel's work. The Colombian representative told BASIC Reports, "It's a national lobby institute -- it's not international." When asked to comment on the NRA paper, the Sri Lankan representative said, "It's irrelevant to our work." The Belgian representative also said he did not think NRA lobbying was having any effect on the panel's deliberations. The Sri Lankan representatives said, "Our mandate is with regard to preventing and reducing excessive and destabilizing accumulations of small arms...The NRA is perhaps overreacting."
Regional workshops and next steps
As with the regional workshop in South Africa in September 1996, financial constraints prevented many panel members from attending the 16-17 January 1997 regional workshop in El Salvador. Nonetheless, those who attended said the meeting provided useful materials for the panel's report. The Colombian representative said, "They not only talked about the arms that have been there since the Cold War and exacerbated the tensions there. They also talked about the illicit transfer of arms which is taking place right now." Also because of financial constraints, only a few panel members were able to attend a related workshop on light weapons and peacekeeping which was held in Ottawa just after the El Salvador workshop.
The expert's panel is scheduled to have a third regional meeting in late May, most likely in Malaysia. Following this workshop, the Japanese government has invited the entire panel to meet in Tokyo from 2628 May. The panel's last formal session is scheduled for July in New York. While the panel is scheduled to report to the Secretary-General shortly after that meeting, one panel member said that the panel might ask for an extension of its charter in order to do more work on policy issues. BASIC
-p. 5-
The previous is taken from the 11 February 1997 issue of BASIC {British American Security Information Council] Reports, No. 56, pp. 4-5.
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