AG/RES. 2341 (XXXVII-O/07): Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN the Annual Report of the Permanent Council to the General Assembly (AG/doc.4698/07 corr. 1), in particular the section on the matters entrusted to the Committee on Hemispheric Security;

REITERATING the urgent need for all member states to take the appropriate measures and to cooperate with one another to prevent, combat, and eradicate the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives, and other related materials, because of the harmful effects of these activities on the security of each state and the region as a whole, since they jeopardize the well-being of peoples, their social and economic development, and their right to live in peace;

REAFFIRMING the principles of sovereignty, nonintervention, and the juridical equality of states;

UNDERSCORING the importance of the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (CIFTA) for promoting and facilitating cooperation and the sharing of information and experiences among the states parties with a view to preventing, combating, and eradicating the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives, and other related materials;

REAFFIRMING the importance of promoting and facilitating cooperation and the sharing of information and experiences among all the states at the bilateral, regional, and international levels with a view to averting, combating, and eradicating the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives, and other related materials;

REAFFIRMING ALSO the importance of the decisions adopted by the First Conference of the States Party to the CIFTA, held in Bogotá, Colombia, on March 8 and 9, 2004, and in particular the commitments and measures agreed to in the Declaration of Bogotá on the Functioning and Application of the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (Declaration of Bogotá);

RECALLING that, in the Declaration of Nuevo León, adopted on January 13, 2004, the democratically elected Heads of State and Government of the Americas, gathered for the Special Summit of the Americas (Monterrey, Mexico, 2004) expressed their commitment to fight all forms of transnational crime, including illicit arms trafficking;

CONSIDERING that the states of the Hemisphere recognized, in the Declaration on Security in the Americas, adopted on October 28, 2003, in Mexico City, that the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives, and other related materials are a threat to hemispheric security and, when used by terrorists and criminals, undermine the rule of law, breed violence and, in some cases, impunity, exacerbate conflicts, and represent a serious threat to human security, and that they agreed to combat the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives, and other related materials;

BEARING IN MIND the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects and the hemispheric contribution to its implementation, and the importance of taking concrete measures in the Hemisphere toward implementation of the national, regional, and global components of that Programme of Action;

RECALLING its resolutions AG/RES. 1 (XXIV-E/97), AG/RES. 1621 (XXIX-O/99), AG/RES. 1750 (XXX-O/00), AG/RES. 1800 (XXXI-O/01), AG/RES. 1874 (XXXII-O/02), AG/RES. 1972 (XXXIII-O/03), AG/RES. 1999 (XXXIV-O/04), AG/RES. 2094 (XXXV-O/05), and AG/RES. 2179 (XXXVI-O/06), regarding the CIFTA;

CONSIDERING the substantial progress made by the Consultative Committee of the CIFTA, especially the decisions adopted at its eighth regular meeting, held on April 19, 2007;

NOTING WITH SATISFACTION:

The results of the Second Meeting of the CIFTA-CICAD Group of Experts to Prepare Model Legislation on the Areas Covered by the CIFTA, regarding model legislation on the marking and tracing of firearms and on the strengthening of controls at export points, held on October 11 and 12, 2006, at the headquarters of the Organization;

The Work Program for 2007-2008 of the Consultative Committee of the CIFTA, adopted by that Committee at its seventh regular meeting;

The seminar organized by the General Secretariat in Santiago, Chile, on November 9 and 10, 2006, in collaboration with the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-LiREC), and the Office of the Director General of National Mobilization of the Chilean Ministry of Defense, to facilitate the exchange of experiences and best practices in the region with regard to stockpile management and security, and the destruction of obsolete or surplus weapons;

The firearms destruction programs carried out by the General Secretariat in Nicaragua and Colombia;

The seminar organized by the General Secretariat in Montego Bay, Jamaica, from March 20 to 22, 2007, on transnational organized crime in the Caribbean, in particular its component on illicit arms trafficking; and

The participation of the Technical Secretariat of the Consultative Committee of the CIFTA in the United Nations Conference to Review the Progress Made in the Implementation of the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, held at United Nations headquarters in New York from June 26 to July 7, 2006;

HAVING SEEN the report of the Secretary General on the status of signatures and ratifications of the CIFTA and taking note of the fact that this Convention has been signed by 33 member states and ratified by 26 of them; and

REAFFIRMING the importance of the earliest possible entry into force of the CIFTA in all member states in order to facilitate and guarantee the achievement of its purposes throughout the Hemisphere,

RESOLVES:

1. To urge all member states that have not already done so to give prompt consideration to ratifying or acceding to, as the case may be, the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (CIFTA), and to adopting all necessary measures for its effective implementation.

2. To convene for February 20 and 21, 2008, at OAS headquarters, the Second Conference of the States Party to the CIFTA to examine its functioning and application, pursuant to Article XXVIII of the Convention, and also to support any related preparatory meetings.

3. To convene for April 29 and 30, 2008, at OAS headquarters, the Ninth Regular Meeting of the Consultative Committee of the CIFTA, pursuant to Article XXI of the Convention, and also to support any related preparatory meetings.

4. To convene, in the framework of the Consultative Committee of the CIFTA, the Third Meeting of the OAS Group of Experts to Prepare Model Legislation in the Areas to Which the CIFTA Refers, for October 15 and 16, 2007, to consider draft model legislation on legislative measures, pursuant to Article IV of the Convention.

5. To adopt the model legislation on the marking and tracing of firearms, approved by the Consultative Committee at its eighth regular meeting, on April 19, 2007.

6. To request the General Secretariat to continue its work with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-LiREC) and its partners, and the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) through the Inter-American Defense College, to prepare and offer specialized workshops on the destruction of small arms, light weapons, and ammunition, and on stockpile management.

7. Also to request the General Secretariat to continue its work with UNODA and with UN-LiREC and its partners to develop and offer specialized courses in special investigation techniques for the authorities responsible for preventing and combating the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives, and other related materials.

8. To invite the Consultative Committee of the CIFTA to continue reporting periodically to the Committee on Hemispheric Security of the Permanent Council on progress in the implementation of the Declaration of Bogotá on the Functioning and Application of the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (Declaration of Bogotá), so that said Committee may take such information into account when preparing coordinated strategies and integrated action plans in connection with the new threats, concerns, and other challenges to hemispheric security.

9. To invite the states party to the CIFTA to make voluntary contributions in order to support the activities established in the Work Program for 2007-2008.

10. To request OAS member states and permanent observers, and international, regional, and subregional organizations interested in the subject, as well as the international community, to consider the possibility of providing the Technical Secretariat of the CIFTA with technical, financial, and educational assistance to support the implementation of measures to prevent, combat, and eradicate the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives, and other related materials.

11. To direct that the Second Conference of the States Party to the CIFTA and the meetings of the Consultative Committee, including the preparatory meetings for the Conference, be held within the resources allocated in the program-budget of the Organization and other resources; and to request the General Secretariat to provide the necessary administrative and technical secretariat support for these purposes.

12. To request the Secretary General to present a report to the General Assembly at its thirty-eighth regular session on the status of signatures and ratifications of the CIFTA.

13. To request the Permanent Council to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-eighth regular session on the implementation of this resolution.