Eighth Biennial Meeting of States on Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons

Statement delivered by Mr. Sandeep Arya, Additional Secretary (D&ISA), MEA

Mr. Chairperson,

India congratulates you on your election as Chair of BMS-8 and assures you of our constructive cooperation in your steering us towards a successful outcome.

We view full and effective implementation of the UN Programme of Action as the cornerstone of multilateral efforts to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons. We particularly emphasize the importance of the UNPoA in alleviating armed conflicts and tackling the scourge of terrorism that remains one of the biggest challenges for the world; this should be acknowledged in the outcome document. Despite a strong law-based framework in our country for controlling SALW, India’s security agencies seize annually thousands of illicit firearms, attributable to illicit trafficking from across our borders.

The continuing prevalence of illicit small arms and light weapons and their availability to terrorists, armed groups and other unauthorised recipients is a clear indicator that the implementation of the UNPOA requires further and more effective efforts.

As  we all agree, Member States bear the primary responsibility for implementation through sound national laws and regulations, their enforcement, export controls and information sharing. Measures for improving national efforts and reporting by states on UNPOA implementation needs greater attention, particularly in places with inadequate measures while having large presence of small arms and light weapons and those with greater risks of their diversion. We heard the UN's analysis a short while back and a more focused review of UNPoA implementation with concrete recommendations,  could be a practical way to address the challenge of illicit SALWs.
 

Capacity building and technical support are important to strengthen the implementation of the UNPoA. In this regard, we support the proposed SALW fellowship.

Finally, some technological developments have implications  for aggravating the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons. We look forward to their consideration and advancing specific suggestions for addressing these risks.
 

Thank you.