AG/RES. 1999 (XXXIV-O/04): Inter-American Convention Against The Illicit Manufacturing Of And Trafficking In Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, And Other Related Materials

(Adopted at the fourth plenary session held on June 8, 2004)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

Having seen the Annual Report of the Permanent Council to the General Assembly (AG/doc.4265/04 add.5 corr. 1), in particular the section on the topics assigned to the Committee on Hemispheric Security;

REITERATING the urgent need for all 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;

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 party with a view to preventing, combating, and eradicating the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives, and other related materials;

RECOGNIZING 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);

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that the democratically elected Heads of State and Government of the Americas, gathered together for the Special Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico, expressed, in the Declaration of Nuevo León, adopted on January 13, 2004, 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, Mexico, 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;

CONSIDERING FURTHER that, in the Declaration on Security in the Americas, the States of the Hemisphere agreed to combat the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives, and other related materials by, among other actions, destroying excess stocks of firearms designated by each state, securing and managing national stockpiles, and regulating firearms brokering, including sanctions for illicit arms brokering for the purpose of avoiding their diversion through illicit channels and their proliferation; likewise, they decided to strengthen efforts at bilateral and multilateral cooperation and, in particular, coordination and cooperation among the Consultative Committee of the CIFTA, the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE), and the United Nations;

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 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), and AG/RES. 1972 (XXXIII-O/03), regarding the CIFTA;

CONSIDERING the progress made over the past year by the Consultative Committee of the CIFTA, including progress at its meeting of May 10, 2004, at the headquarters of the Organization;

RECOGNIZING the importance of the model regulations on firearms brokering, adopted at the thirty-fourth regular session of CICAD, held from November 17 to 20, 2003, in Montreal, Canada;

HAVING SEEN the report of the Secretary General on the status of signatures and ratifications of the CIFTA (CP/doc. /04), and taking note of the fact that this Convention has been signed by 33 member states of the OAS and ratified by 22 of them, which means that three more states have ratified it in the past 12 months; and

REAFFIRMING the importance of the CIFTA entering into force in all member states as soon as possible 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 signing and ratifying, or ratifying, as appropriate, the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (CIFTA), and to adopt the necessary measures for its implementation.

2. To note with satisfaction and give its full support to the important 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), adopted by the First Conference of the States Party to the CIFTA, held on March 8 and 9, 2004, in Bogotá, Colombia.

3. To note with satisfaction the Work Program of the Consultative Committee of the CIFTA, adopted by said Committee at its fifth regular meeting, and to express its support for the work of the Secretariat pro tempore.

4. To instruct the Permanent Council to consider the recommendation contained in paragraph 6.b of the Declaration of Bogotá on the adoption of a methodology for the development of model legislation on the subjects mentioned in paragraph 6.a of the Declaration, based on a proposal drafted by the Consultative Committee, with support from the OAS General Secretariat through the Secretariat for Legal Affairs and the Secretariat of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), and presented through its Secretariat pro tempore.

5. To instruct that, once the methodology referred to in the previous paragraph has been considered and approved, the Permanent Council take the necessary decisions to allow for the formation and convocation of a single group of experts for CIFTA-CICAD in order to make progress toward the preparation of model legislation on those areas covered by the CIFTA that are not encompassed in the CICAD Model Regulations, pursuant to paragraph 6.a of the Declaration of Bogotá.

6. To welcome the decision taken by the First Conference of the States Party to the CIFTA, in paragraph 16 of the Declaration of Bogotá, to direct the Consultative Committee, through the Secretariat pro tempore, to report periodically to the Committee on Hemispheric Security of the OAS Permanent Council on developments in executing this Declaration so that the latter Committee may take them into account when preparing coordinated strategies and comprehensive plans of action to face the new threats, concerns, and other challenges to hemispheric security, referred to, inter alia, in the Declaration on Security in the Americas.

7. To support the holding, in the framework of the Consultative Committee of the CIFTA, of initial meetings of national authorities directly responsible for granting the authorizations or licenses stipulated in Article IX of the CIFTA and in the Model Regulations of the CICAD, and of the national single points of contact and central authorities for mutual legal assistance, as established in Articles XIV and XVII of the Convention, pursuant to paragraphs 8 and 24 of the Declaration of Bogotá.

8. To request states and international and regional organizations interested in the subject to consider the possibility of providing assistance, including technical and financial 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.

9. To stipulate that the meetings of the Consultative Committee of the CIFTA, including those held for the purposes envisaged in operative paragraph 7 of the present resolution, as well as those of the single group of experts referred in operative paragraph 5, be held within the resources allocated in the program-budget of the Organization and other resources; and to request the General Secretariat to strengthen the administrative and technical secretariat support required for these purposes.

10. To request the Secretary General to present a report to the General Assembly at its thirty-fifth regular session on the status of signatures and ratifications of the Convention.

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