Statement by H.E Mr Peter Tesch, Chargé d’affaires of Australia to the United Nations, to the
Open-Ended Working Group to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons
New York 15 June 2004
Mr Chairman
Allow me to commend you for the effort you have put into extensive consultations prior to this meeting.
Australia welcomes the establishment of this Open-Ended Working Group to negotiate an instrument on tracing. Working together, we can take a significant step forward in the implementation of the UN Program of Action and strengthening the international framework concerning the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.
Mr Chairman
Let me share with you some aspects of Australia’s efforts to combat the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. Australians fortunately have been largely spared the devastating impact of illegal arms trafficking. Nevertheless, the Australian Government has been an active player in supporting measures to curb the illicit arms trade.
Australia has some of the most stringent small arms controls in the world, including controls on marking, record keeping, imports and exports.
Australia manufactures very few small arms and light weapons. It is a condition of import that all firearms manufactured after 1900 must bear a unique identifying mark.
All Australian State and Territory police forces maintain comprehensive, computerised databases of all registered firearms. These registration systems are linked through a National Firearms Registration and Licensing System. With further progress over time, this will enable the national tracking of all firearms from the point of import or manufacture to the point of export or destruction. The Australian Defence Force maintains a computerised management tool on which all its weapons and their location are recorded.
At the Federal level, further steps are being taken to improve the marking and record-keeping procedures for civilian and police-held firearms, and the cooperation and exchange of information among States and Territories. In 2002, all Australia’s States and Territories agreed to a National Firearms Trafficking Policy Agreement. They undertook to strengthen their firearms legislation including those provisions which regulate the manufacturing and marking of firearms. In the same year the Australian Government introduced national firearms trafficking legislation. This imposed substantial penalties for interstate trafficking in firearms and provided law enforcement authorities with additional power and flexibility in the detection and prosecution of firearms trafficking within Australia.
Australia is also improving the means to trace illicit arms. The Australian Crime Commission was formed in 2003. One of its roles, on a national basis, is to coordinate strategic intelligence and operational activity relating to illegal firearms trafficking. It is targeting illegal handgun trafficking as a priority and is supporting several multi-agency tracing operations.
Mr Chairman
Australia is committed to working with other countries and civil society to address the challenge of small arms proliferation. Australia has focused its efforts on the small arms problem in the Asia-Pacific region.
Effective implementation of the Programme of Action remains a priority in the South Pacific. Through the involvement of law enforcement officials, we have supported the efforts of the Pacific Islands Forum to develop a common regional approach to weapons control, called the “Nadi Framework”.
On the basis of the Nadi Framework, Pacific Island leaders endorsed a Model Weapons Control Bill at the Pacific Island Forum in August 2003. This includes provisions governing marking and record-keeping for civilian and security force weapons, as well as border controls. If adopted by individual jurisdictions, it will significantly improve regional firearms laws.
Looking ahead, Australia aims to advance work with Pacific Island Countries to adapt and implement regional weapons controls through technical assistance and capacity building. Australia, with Japan and the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, intends to host a regional workshop later this year which will address implementation of the UN Program of Action and the regional weapons control model legislation.
Australia sees cooperation – domestically, regionally and globally – as the key. The Australian Customs Service, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Defence Organisation all cooperate closely with their regional counterparts on customs, law enforcement and the establishment of networks for information sharing.
Australia supports increased transparency to build confidence in our region and internationally. Australia makes available specific information on international arms transfers to other states and encourages reciprocity. Australia will include a specific category on small arms exports in its future reports of defence and strategic goods exports.
Mr Chairman
The report of the UN Group of Governmental Experts on tracing illicit small arms and light weapons provides a strong basis for the open-ended working group’s work.
Australia supports a legally binding instrument on tracing. Such an instrument would build on and reinforce the obligations relating to marking and tracing in the Program of Action and in the Firearms Protocol. It would strengthen existing institutions and processes for international cooperation in tracing. As a priority, it should seek to improve the means of tracing small arms and light weapons used in conflict situations and in terrorist activities.
Mr Chairman
The transnational nature of the illicit weapons trade must be addressed through national, regional and international cooperation. As a key element in building such cooperation, Australia will contribute constructively to the development of an international tracing instrument.