The Secretary-General´s Report on illicit traffic in small arms (A/55/323): parameters and prospect for a Global Coalition of States An analysis by the Rt. Hon. the Count Albi, Executive Director, EPG The Secretary-General´s Report provides for an overview of approaches to SALW proliferation and illicit trafficking among regional/ sub-regional groupings, UN member States and NGOs. Contrary to what one would at first expect judging on the basis of a widening gap of positions among a majority of States versus a few key supplier States there is, given recognition of leakage/ diversion from legal to illicit sources as a major supply source, a general consensus in favor of a proportional-integrated/ comprehensive approach to both, the licit trade and illicit traffic. Every regional/ sub-regional grouping responding, in some form or another, calls for transparency in SALW production and transfer and, by implication, for some extent of control of legal trade, with the complete life cycle of SALW to be controlled for, from production, trade, transfer to eventual destruction. There is also broad convergence of views in favor of enhanced information-gathering and   -sharing by means of some form of regional or global register, enhanced national legislation/ enforcement as well as common standards/ international code of conduct with respect to weapons-marking, record-keeping and tracing. The elements of a small arms control regime, as advanced by EPG in the Consultative Document before the UNGA, are reflected in the positions across various regional groupings. In that, EPG´s consultations are bearing fruit, especially with respect to OAU and OSCE. TABLE 1 Illicit traffic in small arms--Report of the Secretary-General(A/557323)V. Observations (of the Sec-Gen) Annex II. Activities of civil societyWashington Communique of the Eminent Persons Group, Washington DC, 2-4 May 00 76. ...It is becoming evident that the scope and magnitude of illicit small arms trafficking cannot be fully understood unless they are examined in a wider context. In this regard, it should be noted that throughout the consultations and in numerous other forums, there have been calls for greater transparency with respect to small arms transfers, holdings and production, as well as weapons confiscation, collection and destruction. ... 78. ...The preventive measures include efforts to ensure that the legal manufacture and trade in small arms is controlled by States with a view to preventing leakage into the illicit market.80. ...States are also working with their neighbors to harmonize legislation and develop common standards on export controls and other measures. (also, marking regimes)82. A number of States and regional or subregional bodies have also begun to explore policies and procedures to monitor more rigorously small arms imports and exports (normative standards for the trade in small arms)...  83. ...called on the United Nations, as the world´s most representative body, to set into motion one of its strengths: standard setting. ......84. ...development of a clearing house of best practices on activities such as weapons collection and destruction, and national legislation and regulations. ...to support transparency measures such as the establishment of regional and subregional moratoriums and registers of small arms. ......85. Ultimately, however, a regime should be established that will make the prospect of individual criminal prosecution a real-time threat to traffickers and their sponsors, a threat so palpable that it will outweigh their profit, ideological or political motives, and so real that it will deter them, wherever they are, from illicitly delivering the small arms whose proliferation and misuse reap so much death and destruction on civil society. 9. Members of the Eminent Persons Group, an independent international commission, met in Washington from 2-4 May 2000 under the co-chairmanship of President Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali and former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard with the aim of advancing elements of a plan of action for the 2001 Conference. The objective of the Group is to prevent the proliferation of illicit small arms by applying a cooperative regulatory approach to licit small arms transfers, both commercial and non-commercial. Within that overall objective, the goal is to curb the illicit trafficking in small arms by reducing diversion from the licit trade. In its Washington Communiqué of 4 May 2000, the Eminent Persons Group called for a cooperative regulatory approach to focus on all aspects of small arms transfers, government as well as commercial, licit as well as illicit. The aim of such an approach was to promote a small arms control regime based upon preventive measures (e.g. small arms register, strengthened national controls, including import and export regulation, and an international code of conduct) and reduction measures (e.g. weapons collection and reconstruction programmes and conflict prevention strategies). The positions enumerated by the Secretary-General reflect non-consensual tentative positions, pending approval during forthcoming Ministerial conferences later this year. For example both, the OAU Ministerial in Bamako and the OSCE Ministerial in Vienna in November will have to sign-off on the preparatory work which, at this time, should be seen as draft positions, subject to Ministerial review and revision. That opens-up vistas for those who are intent on narrowing both, the scope and mandate of the 2001 Conference. Egypt and Algeria, for example, unwilling to address controls on legal trade, have indicated to the OAU that at Bamako they intend to introduce alternate wording to change pertinent programmatic language contained in the Report of the Continental Experts Meeting, which is the one referenced in the Sec-Gen´s Report. What needs to be done is to ensure that, within regional groupings, these positions be adopted as consensus positions for the Conference. Especially with respect to the fortcoming OAU and OSCE Ministerials it will be incumbent upon EPG to ensure that the positions are adopted as they stand. It is within this context that EPG will have to prove itself in terms of its ability to deliver on the governmental side of small arms action. Continued