6. DIANNE YATES (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control
What is the Government’s response, if any, to the Million Faces petition delivered to him today by Amnesty International, Oxfam, and the International Action Network on Small Arms, which calls for New Zealand support for a draft arms trade treaty?
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control) Link to this
I had the privilege this afternoon to receive that petition, on the forecourt of Parliament, together with the member and a number of other parliamentarians. The Government very much welcomes the petition, which supports our view that there needs to be an international treaty to combat the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. In fact, we have spoken out publicly in support of that before at the UN and at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and we will again promote it at the First Review Conference of the UN Programme of Action for Small Arms and Light Weapons, which starts in New York in about 10 days’ time.
Why does the Government believe that taking action in this area is important, and what evidence is there of the seriousness of the problem?
The evidence suggests that each year up to an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 people die as a result of small arms. Illicit trade into countries that are suffering from internal conflict is a key part of that problem. Kofi Annan has stated that in terms of the carnage small arms cause, they could well be described as weapons of mass destruction. With the conflict situations that New Zealand soldiers are dealing with right now in Timor-Leste and in the Solomons, I think that the importance we are placing on the issue of controls on the illicit trade in small arms is well justified.
The concept is at an early stage, but it is a response to the fact that, unlike weapons of mass destruction, there is no treaty that governs the transfer of conventional weapons, despite the widespread havoc they are causing. As a first step, New Zealand is working with other Governments on a transfer control initiative, for a discussion at the UN review conference. That will try to put in place a mechanism that allows States to screen legal transfers of small arms, based on undesirable end-users. For example, legal sales of arms to countries that were major abusers of human rights would not be allowed.