Vol. 577 No. 1
36 Ms B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government intends to support the campaign for the proposed UN arms trade treaty advocated by Amnesty International and Oxfam, among others; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30490/03]
I am aware of the initiative on the proposed international arms trade treaty, also referred to as the draft framework convention on international arms transfers, which is being promoted by a group of non-governmental organisations, NGOs. It is intended to be a legally binding agreement with core principles and mechanisms relating to international transfers of arms.
An official of my Department participated in a conference held last month at Cambridge University in England, the purpose of which was to examine the text of the draft treaty from a legal perspective. As a result of these discussions, I understand that further work will be carried out to clarify some of the provisions of the draft treaty. The question of the adoption of the proposed international arms trade treaty has also been scheduled for discussion later this month at working group level within the EU.
While work on drafting the text is still ongoing, it is a promising initiative and I commend the NGOs concerned for their efforts. A welcome aspect of the draft treaty is that it has the objective of setting out states' existing international legal obligations in the area of international transfers of arms. In addition, once ratified, the draft framework treaty would enable the international community to move forward incrementally, by means of subsequent more specific instruments.
I am conscious of the adverse humanitarian, socioeconomic and international security implications of the global illicit trade in small arms and light weapons and its impact in particular on the African continent. In the past two years, Ireland has contributed a total of €148,000 to the safer Africa project for technical assistance to the Southern Africa Development Community, SADC. This is an illustration of Ireland's real commitment to implement the terms of the UN's programme of action to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects, which was adopted by the UN in July 2001.
