Governments urge broader control of arms
Rita A. Widiadana and Wahyoe Boedhiwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Jimbaran, Bali
Delegations to the United Nations (UN) Workshop on Transparency in Armaments here have stressed the need to enhance transparency in the arms trade beyond the seven categories of major standard arms as presently stated in the UN Registration of Conventional Arms.
Marking the end of the two-day meeting on Saturday, the delegates suggested that given the new and diverse forms of conventional arms currently being developed and traded worldwide, the seven categories of conventional arms in the UN Registration should be expanded.
According to the UN Registration of Conventional Arms, which has been effective since l992, UN members are required to report their procurement and possession of conventional arms including battle tanks, armored vehicles, large caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers.
The delegations have also called for countries to improve the quality of data provided by governments through better exchange of information.
Discussions during the two-day event were devoted to the two armaments transparency instruments of the United Nations, namely the United Nations Registration of Conventional Arms (established in l992) and the United Nations Standardized Instrument for Reporting Military Expenditure, which has been in operation since l981.
The primary purpose of the workshop was to achieve a higher level of global participation by discussing with government officials and experts the objectives, procedures and parameters of the two transparency instruments.
During the meeting, the Brunei Darussalam delegation submitted their country's reports on the required registration of seven categories of conventional armaments.
Tsutomu Ishiguri, Asia-Pacific Director of UNDDA, expressed approval for the Brunei report on its procurement and stocks of conventional arms, as well as military expenditure.
"I deeply congratulate Brunei Darussalam for its submission of the reports and I'm glad that Laos will follow soon in participating in the UN Registration of Conventional Arms," Ishiguri said.
To date, 162 countries have regularly, or at least once, reported their stocks of conventional arms, and 102 countries have joined in the UN Instrument for Reporting Military Expenditure.
"We, the delegations, stressed the need to maintain consistency of participation in reporting military expenditures and encourage further participation for countries that have not done so," he said.
Previously, Moch. S. Hidayat, Indonesian Representatives to the United Nations, explained that the participation of UN member states in the two UN instruments was very important.
"Countries in conflict areas, including the Middle East and South Asia, are required to report and register their armaments," he said. Many of these countries obtained advanced weapons either by importing them or producing them.
"Countries that produce their own armaments usually do not register their stocks or military expenditure with the United Nations," he said. However, he admitted that the UN instruments were not binding and therefore there were no sanctions against countries that violated them.
Hamzah Thayeb, Director for International Security and Disarmament at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in his closing remarks that the UN Workshop was crucial as it provided a deeper understanding of the two UN instruments.
"This meeting has given Indonesia and its people greater international credibility in the aftermath of the Oct.12 Bali bombings," he said.
UNDDA and the Indonesian government jointly hosted the two-day workshop. Among the main sponsors were Canada, Japan, Germany and the Netherlands.
The workshop was attended by representatives of all 10 ASEAN member states. Other participants were East Timor, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Australia, China, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Romania and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.