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European Justice and Peace letters on the small arms trade

Draft letters for EU Governments and EU Parliaments on the small arms trade

• Posted on Oct 24, 2007

DRAFT LETTER FOR E.U. GOVERNMENTS

The Prime Minister of _____
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of _____

Excellency

The European Justice and Peace Commissions are lay organizations created by the Catholic Church Episcopal Conferences of each European country to address issues and problems of the social realm, in particular those pertaining to the Social Doctrine of the Church, the development of nations, the human rights and to issues of justice and peace. The European Justice and Peace Commission are part of the world wide network of the Justice and Peace Commissions headed by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in Rome.

The European Justice and Peace Commissions gathered in Kyiv on the 24th of September 2007 to discuss, among other topics, the problems arising from the prolif-eration of small arms and light weapons in the world and its effects upon the safety and well being of their fellow citizens.

This proliferation is not only a direct cause of outbursts of violence – at national, regional or even domestic level – but a clear sign that a serious problem is occurring in a given society, such as a deep imbalance of income distribution, the existence of oppressed minorities or the existence of endemic insecurity caused either by petty crime or by the action of large organized crime.

The destabilizing accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons has to be tackled, in the first place, at the national level, but this fight will become useless if, at the international level, a coordinated and well aimed effort is not carried out by well known organizations. This is the case of what has been done, particularly after the mid eighties, in the United Nations and by the firm stance taken by the European Union, either among its Member Countries, or by the enlightened posi-tions advocated at other relevant international fora.

One of the main European Union instruments for this purpose is the European Code of Conduct on arms exports. Approved back in 1998, it has been improved since then and, together with its List of Arms – a list of all weapons and equipment encompassed in the Code of Conduct -, constitutes a very thorough guideline for the action to be taken in every weapon export deal by its Member Countries.

Notwithstanding its intrinsic good qualities and the experience accumulated since 1998 that allowed for constant improvements, the Code of Conduct remains a per-fectionable instrument as it is not a legally binding document. Recognizing this flaw, the E.U. has made an effort to change its nature making it a Common Position and, as such, a legally binding text. For this purpose the Working Party on Conven-tional Arms Exports - COARM - on the 30th of June, 2005, put the final touches, at technical level, on a revised version of the Code of Conduct fit to be approved as a Common Position and, as such, promptly endorsed by the Committee of Permanent Representatives – COREPER -.

The new text, when approved by the Council, would become legally binding. Be-sides, it would bring new fields of activity to its scope as brokering, transit, produc-tion under license and transhipment would become part of its contents. Moreover, it would include in its Preamble references to the observance of the Humanitarian International Law.

Thus, the Common Position defining the common rules related to the control of military technology and equipment exports would become a very important and comprehensive reference of the European Union law with undeniable positive reper-cussions over the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

The responsibilities for an approval at political level of the proposed Common Position were high at that time as the main small arms manufacturing countries of the European Union represented around 39% of the total worldwide exports of such equipment made by the 18 major supplier countries.

However, a consensus was never reached as a linkage seems to have then been es-tablished between the approval of the European Union Common Position on arms exports and the suspension of an existing arms exports embargo to China.

Recent political developments indicate that the above mentioned linkage no longer holds and that it is a question of time to see a favourable political decision being taken.

Nevertheless, this question is very serious as we see everyday around one thousand people killed by the effects of small arms and light weapons. Societies can not just sit and watch any longer while the most appropriate moment is being defined. The effect of the new Common Position will certainly make a difference in the volume of the arms trade contributing decisively to the reduction of the daily number of deaths of human beings, especially if other countries in Europe and elsewhere fol-low suit.

So we urge you Mr. _______ to agree, as swiftly as possible, together with your col-leagues in the Council of the European Union, to make room in the Agenda of a forthcoming Council meeting to discuss and approve the new rules on arms ex-ports, preferably on the course of the current Presidency. On the background of the ambiguous signs given by the European Defence Agency in regard of arms trade a clear sign by the European Union about its policy is needed.

An early approval of a Common Position on the export of arms would also strengthen the European Union position at the United Nations at the next discus-sions about the objectives and contents of the new Arms Trade Treaty, now being prepared and so keenly defended by the European Union representatives at the last General Assembly Meeting.

Yours very truly

DRAFT LETTER FOR PARLIAMENTS OF E.U. COUNTRIES

The President of the _____ Parliament

Excellency

The European Justice and Peace Commissions are lay organizations created by the Catholic Church Episcopal Conferences of each European country to address issues and problems of the social realm, in particular those pertaining to the Social Doc-trine of the Church, the development of nations, the human rights and to issues of justice and peace. The European Justice and Peace Commission are part of the world wide network of the Justice and Peace Commissions headed by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in Rome.

The European Justice and Peace Commissions gathered in Kyiv on the 24th of Sep-tember 2007 to discuss, among other topics, the problems arising from the prolif-eration of small arms and light weapons in the world and its effects upon the safety and well being of their fellow citizens.

This proliferation is not only a direct cause of outbursts of violence – at national, regional or even domestic level – but a clear sign that a serious problem is occurring in a given society, such as a deep imbalance of income distribution, the existence of oppressed minorities or the existence of endemic insecurity caused either by petty crime or by the action of large organized crime.

The destabilizing accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons has to be tackled, in the first place, at the national level, but this fight will become useless if, at the international level, a coordinated and well aimed effort is not carried out by well known organizations. This is the case of what has been done, particularly after the mid eighties, in the United Nations and by the firm stance taken by the European Union, either among its Member Countries, or by the enlightened posi-tions advocated at other relevant international fora.

One of the main European Union instruments for this purpose is the European Code of Conduct on arms exports. Approved back in 1998, it has been improved since then and, together with its List of Arms – a list of all weapons and equipment encompassed in the Code of Conduct -, constitutes a very thorough guideline for the action to be taken in every weapon export deal by its Member Countries.

Notwithstanding its intrinsic good qualities and the experience accumulated since 1998 that allowed for constant improvements, the Code of Conduct remains a per-fectionable instrument as it is not a legally binding document. Recognizing this flaw, the E.U. has made an effort to change its nature making it a Common Position and, as such, a legally binding text. For this purpose the Working Party on Conven-tional Arms Exports - COARM - on the 30th of June, 2005, put the final touches, at technical level, on a revised version of the Code of Conduct fit to be approved as a Common Position and, as such, promptly endorsed by the Committee of Permanent Representatives – COREPER -.

The new text, when approved by the Council, would become legally binding. Be-sides, it would bring new fields of activity to its scope as brokering, transit, produc-tion under license and transhipment would become part of its contents. Moreover, it would include in its Preamble references to the observance of the Humanitarian International Law.

Thus, the Common Position defining the common rules related to the control of military technology and equipment exports would become a very important and comprehensive reference of the European Union law with undeniable positive reper-cussions over the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

The responsibilities for an approval at political level of the proposed Common Posi-tion were high at that time as the main small arms manufacturing countries of the European Union represented around 39% of the total worldwide exports of such equipment made by the 18 major supplier countries.

However, a consensus was never reached as a linkage seems to have then been es-tablished between the approval of the European Union Common Position on arms exports and the suspension of an existing arms exports embargo to China.

Recent political developments indicate that the above mentioned linkage no longer holds and that it is a question of time to see a favourable political decision being taken.

Nevertheless, this question is very serious as we see everyday around one thousand people killed by the effects of small arms and light weapons. Societies can not just sit and watch any longer while the most appropriate moment is being defined. The effect of the new Common Position will certainly make a difference in the volume of the arms trade contributing decisively to the reduction of the daily number of deaths of human beings, especially if other countries in Europe and elsewhere follow suit.

So we urge you Mr. _______ to inform all the Political Parties represented in the Parliament on the need to support the initiative your Government will undertake at the Council of the European Union to make possible an early approval of the new rules on arms exports, preferably on the course of the current Presidency. On the back-ground of the ambiguous signs given by the European Defence Agency in regard of arms trade a clear sign by the European Union about its policy is needed.

A similar move towards the Political Parties represented at the European Parliament would be welcomed as an early approval of a Common Position on the export of arms would also strengthen the European Union position at the United Nations at the next discussions about the objectives and contents of the new Arms Trade Treaty, now being prepared and so keenly defended by the European Union repre-sentatives at the last General Assembly Meeting.

Yours very truly