Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-10-Speech-2-196"
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"en.20050510.23.2-196"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, the European Commission obviously approves the constant efforts being made by the United Nations and other players in the fight against the serious effects of the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. We welcome the renewed attention being paid to this issue and we are looking forward impatiently to taking part in the biennial meeting of States to be held in New York in July 2005. We are very grateful to the European Parliament for taking the initiative of drawing attention to this forthcoming event. The Commission will be studying the proposals made in the Parliamentary resolutions very closely.
We recognise that the build-up and spread of these weapons aggravates conflicts, feeds terrorism, hampers reconstruction efforts in the aftermath of conflicts and reduces the prospects for sustainable development. It is therefore essential that we tackle these questions through multinational partnerships combining preventive and responsive measures and it is also essential that we use the United Nations instruments to that end. The effectiveness of the fight against the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons depends on communication and cooperation between states.
The Commission favours a multilateral approach and has committed a number of its services to different projects in this area. It is important to stress that, if an answer is to be found to this problem, action must be taken in several directions, ranging from development aid proper to reform of the security sector, by way of the actual destruction of these weapons. Some of these areas are matters of Community competence, others unfortunately are not.
In its violent conflict prevention programme, the European Union recognises that by endeavouring to eliminate small arms as a source of destabilisation and conflict it would make a major contribution to preventing renewed acts of violence. The European Union is trying to achieve this through international cooperation, financial and technical assistance programmes and effective arms control. Through the European Development Fund, the Commission is financing a number of actions involving the demobilisation of ex-combatants and their reintegration into society and the collection and destruction of these arms.
In a very large number of cases, these actions are implemented through specific demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration programmes. In other cases, however, the reintegration of ex-combatants has been included in broader programmes for the development or rehabilitation of post-conflict areas. These programmes seek to bring about an overall improvement in the economic and social structures of the areas affected by a conflict by helping to reintegrate former combatants and their families into civilian life.
A number of questions relating to the cross-border transfer of these weapons are currently being examined for next year’s conference. In particular, a treaty on the arms trade is being discussed. The Commission will be actively involved in the debate on these subjects that will be held in the Council. It would be premature to discuss these points in detail at present, since some of them will have to be examined in depth by several commissioners. The European Union has also on several occasions called for legally binding instruments on arms brokering and the marking and tracing of small arms and light weapons at the United Nations conference and the follow-up meetings on the illicit trade in small arms in 2001 and 2003."@en1
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