Thank you mr. President, for providing my delegation with the opportunity to participate in this open debate. The recent developments regarding possible arms shipments to Zimbabwe have shown again how topical this issue is – in the context of the General Assembly as well as for the Security Council.

Building on the statement made this morning by Slovenia on behalf of the European Union, I would like to emphasize that we share the Secretary-General’s analysis of the current state of affairs regarding the issue of small arms. The Netherlands fully supports the recommendations made in his report and we are pleased and encouraged by the Secretary-General’s fresh approach to this important topic. In particular, my delegation is content with the broad approach to the issue, the connection to capacity building and development, the focus on improving cooperation between national law enforcement authorities, and the inclusion of issues such as ammunition flows and poor end-use verification.

The problems arising from small arms proliferation are still plentiful. We need to continue striving for full implementation of the UN Programme of Action. We are confident that its upcoming Biennial Meeting of States will propel and steer action on international cooperation; marking and tracing; stockpile management and surplus disposal; and illicit brokering. The recommendations made by last year’s UN Expert Group on illicit brokering, which was chaired by my fellow countryman Mr. Prins, deserve follow-up, while our ambitions for a legal instrument should not be abandoned. And we need to weigh and reweigh our methods of curbing the proliferation of small arms in light of the knowledge we have gained.  

In recent years the international community has become more aware of the connection between armed violence and development. It is increasingly understood, that the problems arising from small arms need to be addressed not as a separate technical issue, but embedded in a broader development approach. The 2005 UN Summit Outcome is a confirmation at the highest level of the new consensus that security and development are intimately linked.

Armed violence has a major impact on the often vulnerable countries that suffer from it, as it affects economies, health sectors, young democracies, and in general: the fabric of society. To deal with small arms and light weapons effectively is to recognize the myriad ways in which armed violence affects society, and to act on this accordingly. If the international community is serious about achieving the Millennium Development Goals—which I believe it is—we need to start looking beyond those efforts directly aimed at achieving these goals, and realize that armed violence will thwart any substantial improvement in levels of development.

Mr. President,

The Secretary-General recommended that we develop key indicators for the area of small arms, and use these to determine a set of measurable goals. In this respect, the efforts of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development are mentioned as being encouraging. The signatories to this Declaration, which come from all regional groups, have started to work on measurability in the field of armed violence, and are currently reflecting on the possibility of developing so-called Security for Development Goals. These Goals could be complementary to the Millennium Development Goals, and as such bridge the gap between security and development.

It is our hope that the understanding of the correlation between armed violence and development will become firmly rooted in both UN standards and in international action on small arms proliferation.

Thank you Mr. President.