OSCE Chairman tells UN conference civil society can help thwart small arms trade

UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK, 26 June 2006 - The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, urged United Nations member states today to work with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to bolster government efforts to stop the global spread of small arms.

Addressing the opening session of a two-week United Nations review conference on eradicating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, Minister De Gucht also said the OSCE had set the trend in this area and he hoped its efforts so far and new initiatives would inspire other countries.

"The input of NGOs to some of the OSCE meetings has proven quite stimulating. Sometimes NGOs play a crucial role in advancing our understanding of the actual output and effect on the ground," the Chairman-in-Office told the conference, which was opened by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"I could thus wholeheartedly recommend to all of our nations to recognize the potential of working with civil society and NGOs in this field," Minister De Gucht said in his speech.

He said the OSCE stood ready to support the United Nations and other international organizations and to find ways of dividing tasks rather than duplicating them. For example,he noted that in a small arms and ammunitions project in Ukraine, the OSCE dealt with the ammunition while NATO was in charge of destroying the weapons.

The OSCE - which has 56 participating States in Eurasia and North America - has already published a special Handbook of Best Practices on Small Arms and Light Weapons with an annex on MANPADS: man-portable surface-to-air missiles that can be fired by an individual. Minister De Gucht said the Organization would welcome UN-level discussions on developing global guidelines and standards.

He said the OSCE was focusing on new initiatives that included tackling the problem of illicit air transport of small arms, dealing with unlicensed production and increasing the work of the OSCE's 18 field missions in collecting and tracing weapons.

"Further OSCE work on these issues may inspire in due time the United Nations," he added.