Statement / by the President of the Security Council

Statement [made on behalf of the Security Council, at the 5127th (resumption 1) meeting, 17 Feb. 2005, in connection with the Council's consideration of the item entitled "Small arms"]

Recognizes that the dissemination of illicit small arms and light weapons has hampered the peaceful settlement of disputes, fuelled such disputes into armed conflicts and contributed to the prolongation of such armed conflicts; encourages the arms-exporting countries to exercise the highest degree of responsibility in small arms and light weapons transactions according to their existing responsibilities under relevant international law; notes with appreciation that regional actions on illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects have been strengthened in recent years; welcomes the ongoing efforts by open-ended working group established by resolution 58/241 of the General Assembly to negotiate an international instrument to enable States to identify and trace, in a timely and reliable manner, illicit small arms and light weapons; welcomes the inclusion of Man-Portable Air-Defence Systems on an exceptional basis in the UN Register on Conventional Arms; calls upon all Member States to enforce all Security Council resolutions on sanctions, including those imposing arms embargoes and to bring their own domestic implementation into compliance with the Council's measures on sanctions; underlines the issue of the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons must be addressed together with the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process in the post-conflict phases.

3 p.