Statement by

Mr. Heidar Ali Balouji

First Counselor

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

at the Eighth 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

On the Implementation of the International Tracing Instrument (ITI)

New York, 28 June 2022

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

Mr. Chair,

The ITI was developed in continuance of the PoA. We take both the ITI and the PoA seriously, as previously mentioned on our PoA implementation activities. In the meantime, I would like to underline some of our observations, especially regarding the current or possible proposals concerning the ITI.   We strongly believe that any proposal should be consistent with the mother documents as well as the mandate and power of the BMS processes envisaged in those documents. Therefore, we are not in a position to support the adoption of new commitments broadening any financial and technological burdens for developing countries.

The proposal to establish an open-ended technical expert group is a vivid example in this case. It precisely echoes the proposal to develop a supplementary annex to the ITI that we do not support. Therefore, we deem it necessary to draft the relevant references in the draft outcome document in a way that garners consensus.

In the same vein, we cannot agree with any attempt to impose universal rules concerning the trade, identification and tracking of small arms and light weapons.

Therefore, we reiterate our call to be very cautious in any approach regarding new technologies for marking and tracing within the outcome document.

In fact, the Member States require ample time and adequate capacity to consider and discuss the issue encompassing the implications of new technologies in-depth without adopting any hasty decision. This requires adequate, sustained, unconditional and effective international cooperation through financial support, technical assistance, capacity-building as well as the transfer of knowledge, materials, equipment and technology from developed countries. 

Last but not least, new initiatives must be considered and decided upon by the Review Conference as it is the only competent authority to determine any decisions under the PoA. Therefore, all elements in the text related to this idea need to be treated as not enjoying consensus. At this critical juncture, we need to focus on unifying proposals rather than divisive ones.

I thank you, Mr. Chair.