Statement by

Mr. Heidar Ali Balouji

First Counsellor

Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

on behalf of Bolivia, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Syria and Venezuela

At the Seventh Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of

the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA)

On Agenda Item 8 “International Cooperation”

New York, 27 July 2021

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Mr. Chair,

I have the honor to speak on behalf of Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Syria, Venezuela, and Iran.

Preventing the diversion and illicit international transfer of small arms and light weapons to unauthorized recipients is one of the main goals of the PoA and the ITI. For this purpose, international cooperation and assistance remain essential to the full and effective implementation of the two documents. The PoA recognizes the urgent necessity for close international cooperation and assistance, including financial and technical assistance, to support and facilitate efforts at the local, national, regional, and global levels to prevent, combat, and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects.

However, bearing in mind the different situations, capacities, and priorities of States and regions, the continuing challenges to the implementation of the Program of Action and the International Tracing Instrument, including the need for enhanced international cooperation and assistance, should be duly noted and dealt with. After 20 years of implementation of the PoA, the level of international cooperation is yet to be strengthened by the involvement of the developed countries, the private sector, and industry.

In this way, international cooperation should be promoted in a way that broadens the capacity of members states to implement their undertakings. Although in practice, linking capacity building with national target setting sounds conditional and thus should be clearer and without any sense of conditionality.

In other words, the commitments and undertakes on international cooperation should not be taken for granted. Rather they should be treated as an integral part and also as important as other provisions of the PoA and the ITI.

 Especially, against the huge gap in terms of technologies between the countries, expecting or pushing to accept more commitments without enough capacity in place, will further worsen the situation. Therefore, and as long as continued and sustainable financial, technical and technological assistance in support of the implementation of the Programme of Action and the International Tracing Instrument, is not secured, international cooperation should be a top priority of any relevant fora. 

 This needs political will and should be proven with action. In this regard, all potential barriers to the sustainability of international cooperation should be recognized and removed. These activities along with any action on international cooperation could be reflected in the national reports.

Within the context of the BMS 7 and its outcome document, from a developing country perspective, international cooperation should be reflected in the preamble and the relevant parts of the outcome document. 

In closing, we would like to welcome establishing a dedicated fellowship training program on small arms and light weapons in order to strengthen technical knowledge and expertise in areas related to the implementation of the Program of Action and the International Tracing Instrument, particularly in developing countries.  We believe that an important step forward and to ensure the successful implementation and sustainability of the proposed fellowship training program, is to request the Secretariat to present practical funding options and application procedures, for consideration by the Member States at the Eighth Biennial Meeting of States.

Thank you!