Topic: Combating the Illicit Small Arms Trade
Country: Pakistan
Delegate Name: Michael Deneroff
School: Roeper School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Pakistan position papers GLIMUN 2012 committees
Pakistan supports the Programme of Action (PoA) adopted by the UN in 2001. We understand the severe effects of the illicit arms trade as it supplies terrorist organizations and organized crime, costing hundreds of thousands of people their lives. Pakistan has taken many steps to implement the PoA. We have sent multiple implementation reports at regular intervals, along with setting up our own national initiative to seize small arms and light weapons (SALW), during which over 600,000 weapons and 3.5 million rounds of ammunition were impounded.
Pakistan believes that the current PoA and International Tracing Instrument are effective means at combating the illicit trade of SALW. However, Pakistan identifies a root cause of the illicit arms trade is the massive production of SALW by developed nations, particularly three of the major Cold War states. For the PoA to be truly effective, states must reduce their production of SALW. All nations (especially the developed states producing the majority of the SALW involved in this illicit trade) must assist in the implementation of the PoA; namely with cooperation and aid in the training and providing of technologies to combat the trade of illicit SALW. In addition, Pakistan realizes that a large portion of the demand for SALW stems from unresolved disputes festering in various regions throughout the world, that also need to be resolved.
Pakistan is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, and looks forward to working with all nations, developed, newly developing, and developing to find an effective and workable solution to combating the trade of illicit SALW. These weapons have claimed countless lives throughout the world and the illicit trade of SALW needs to be stopped before more lives are lost.
