Statement by Oleg Ivanov, Acting Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus to the United Nations at the Session of UN working group on small arms and light weapons (New-York, June 15, 2004)

Mr. Chairman, participants of the session,

Let me join the greetings in connection with the opening of the session of the Open-ended working group to negotiate an international instrument to enable states to identify and trace, in a timely and reliable manner, illicit small arms and light weapons.

Let me also congratulate you, Mr. Chairman, with the election to this high and responsible post. We are confident that your diplomatic experience will greatly contribute to the active and fruitful work of the session. You can rely on cooperation and support of the Belarusian delegation.

The Republic of Belarus attaches great priority to the problems of small arms and light weapons.

The respective national legislation is improved. There have been adopted the legislative acts regulating the SALW turnover on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, as well as export/import of specific goods and technologies, including SALW. On July 1, 2003 the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus adopted a resolution “On Marking and Registration of Small Arms and Light Weapons and Ammunition Produced in the Republic of Belarus”. Thereupon the Ministry of Defense issued a respective instruction.

Active practical work in this sphere is carried out at the national and international levels.

Within the frameworks of the implementation of the UN Program of Action activities are carried out aimed at preventing criminal acts in connection with the SALW illicit trade, uncovering and seizing the illicit SALW and ammunition. The seized and collected arms and ammunition are to be destructed. In 2002 more than 2300 units of SALW were destroyed.

Special attention is paid to the issues of transparency and information exchange. In 2002 and 2003 the Republic of Belarus issued the National reports on export control, export of arms and military equipment policy. A detailed national report on the implementation of the UN Program of Action was prepared and transmitted to the UN Secretariat.

The non-governmental organizations and civil society are actively involved in the dialogue on SALW. In November 2002 Minsk hosted an international seminar on transparency in SALW trade with participation of national and international experts, including the representatives of the “Saferworld”, “Small Arms Survey”, “NISAR”, and others. The participants of the seminar discussed measures directed at increasing transparency in export, strengthening security of SALW stock-piles and their surpluses destruction.

Belarus traditionally attaches great importance to the development of the regional dimension in this sphere. First of all it concerns the OSCE Document on SALW. Belarus has participated in all three information exchanges within the frameworks of the Document.

Belarus is one of the most active adherents of developing the cooperation between the OSCE and the UN. In July 2002 Belarus initiated the OSCE Forum on cooperation in the sphere of security taking decision # 9/02 “Submission to the UN of a standard report within the information exchange in accordance with the OSCE Document on small arms and light weapons”. Belarus also voluntarily conveyed to the UN member-states the data on the national legislation and the current practice in the sphere of export control prepared within the context of the OSCE Document.

In June 2003 the Forum took decision # 5/03 “On the best practices of implementation of the OSCE Document”. Belarus was one of the initiators of developing and including into the decision of the clauses that envisage conveying of the collection of the “best practices” to the UN. In our opinion, the above activities represent a practical contribution of the OSCE to the UN efforts in the sphere of illicit trade of SALW.

We believe that a further logical step could be preparation by the OSCE member-states of consolidated information on the national legislations and current practice and principles in the sphere of export control, as well as a marking catalogue. In general it is worth considering “export” of the OSEC experience and practices to the UN. The OSCE is a “pace-maker” in the SALW sphere. Its experience would be very useful for the UN member-states that have just begun developing their activities in this sphere.

Belarus supports and greets the OSCE efforts aimed at destructing the surpluses of ammunition of conventional weapons. At present Belarus is developing close cooperation with the OSCE on this issue.

In September 2003 our country became the first one in the OSCE to activate the mechanism of the OSCE Document on SALW that envisages technical and financial assistance on destruction and increasing the security level of the stockpiled SALW. In October 2003 in Minsk the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus organized jointly with Belarusian NGOs an international workshop on further implementation of the above mechanism.

In April 2004 an OSCE representative mission visited Belarus with the goal to evaluate the situation and prepare proposals on delivering technical assistance to Belarus within the process of destruction and increasing the security level of the stockpiled SALW.

The OSCE mission visited the Ministry of Defense units where the OCSE experts were informed about the current procedures of the SALW utilization, stockpiling security, and thereupon problems. At present the OSCE experts are preparing a report that will become a basis for furthering cooperation between Belarus and the OSCE in this sphere.

Taking into account the importance of the efforts on prevention of the most dangerous SALW, first of all portable missile-launch units (PMLU), ending up in the hands of terrorists, we included a number of PMLU, anti-tank and manual grenade cup discharges to the list of destroyed weapons.

Speaking on the problems and difficulties facing Belarus in this sphere, one should point out the shortage of financing necessary for the destruction and increasing the security level of the stockpiled SALW. The budget means are not enough. Thereupon we attach great importance to developing international cooperation on this issue. Belarus would be very grateful to states capable of providing us with financial assistance for solving the above problems.

Belarus makes its own contribution to the international efforts on preventing the illicit SALW trade. We express our readiness to speeding up the work at the national level and further developing the international cooperation. We believe that information exchange and transparency in this sphere lead to decreasing the threats and concerns, raising up the level of trust, lowering the risks of armed conflicts, and strengthening international peace and security in general.

Thank you for your attention.