Governments urged to report their military equipment and expenditures
Rita A.Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Jimbaran, Bali
The escalating tension surrounding Iraq and North Korea, which could threaten global peace and security, has prompted the United Nations to urge governments around the world to report and register a transparent account of their military equipment and expenditures.
Tsutomu Ishiguri, Director of Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, expressed his concern over the current critical situation, overshadowed by a possible war on Iraq and the nuclear crisis in North Korea.
"Promoting transparency instead of secrecy in military matters, if not total transparency, can go a long way in enhancing confidence and trust among nations, because by doing so, unwarranted fears and mistrust can be reduced," he told participants of the two-day United Nations Workshop on Transparency in Armament held from Feb. 14 to Feb. 15 at a Jimbaran resort complex in Bali.
The Bali workshop is jointly sponsored by Canada, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands and was organized by the United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs, while Indonesia is hosting the workshop.
In l992, the United Nations, with the support of the international community, had actually established two global arms transparency instruments: the Register of Conventional Arms and the Standardized Instrument for Reporting Military Expenditures.
"But the instruments are not binding. They are not arms controls or arms regulation instruments," Ishiguri said during his opening remarks on Friday morning.
He explained that these voluntary instruments were only intended to help reduce misperceptions, to prevent miscalculation and to build confidence and trust among states through greater openness in military matters.
Since its establishment in l992, 162 governments, including the United States, France, Belgium, Australia, Canada, Germany and Indonesia, have submitted an account of their arms at least once to the instruments in the past decade, while almost all major producers, exporters and importers of conventional arms have reported regularly to the Register.
"After 10 years, it is important for the Register to demonstrate that it is a dynamic instrument capable of adapting to new requirements and expectations, thereby safeguarding its relevance and significance to the contemporary situation," he said.
It was vitally important, he said, to sustain such a momentum, a task that would require dedicated effort and persistence in the face of so many obstacles such as apathy, ignorance and the distraction of competing priorities.
Presently, it is estimated that the Register has captured more than 95 percent of the global trade in the seven categories of combat systems covered by these instruments.
Nevertheless, the participation level still falls short of the goal of universality and, in terms of scope, the Register remains confined so far to the seven categories of combat systems agreed upon, including armored attack vehicles, large-caliber artillery, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers.
The primary purpose of the two-day workshop is to achieve a higher level of global participation by discussing the objectives, procedures and parameters of the two transparency instruments with government experts.
Another important purpose is to obtain valuable feedback and input from both regions and sub-regions to improve the long-term prospects of these instruments.
Such feedback would enrich the work of the Group of Governmental Experts, which will be reviewing the operation and the further development of the Register starting in March of this year, at UN Headquarters in New York.
The United Nations Register of Conventional Arms marks its 10th year of operations this year, after governments make their latest submissions for the annual report of the Secretary- General, which is to be delivered at the 57th session of the UN General Assembly.
The Register has progressed reasonably well during since its inception, and progress has been particularly encouraging in recent years, as reflected in an impressive 25 percent increase in participation over the last two years, from 99 submissions in l999, to 125 in 2001. Likewise, participation in the military expenditure instrument has also grown remarkably -- by about 50 percent in the last two years.
Mohamad Slamet Hidayat, Charge d'Affairs and Deputy Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the United Nations, said Indonesia was in full support of the Invitation of States in the UN General Assembly resolution issued in Oct. 2002 to provide additional information on procurement from national production and military holdings.
"Indonesia has mostly imported its military instruments and therefore, all these weapons and military instruments have been registered," Hidayat said.