From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
STOP SPREAD OF WEAPONS, URGES COOK
131054 FEB 10 By PA News Reporter
The Foreign Secretary today called for an international
fund to be set up to help stop the spread of weapons
around the world. Robin Cook said it was needed to stop
small arms being used by criminals and illegitimate groups.
The fund was one of a series of initiatives proposed by Mr
Cook to delegates around the world at a London conference
called Combating Small Arms and Light Weapons. Mr Cook
said: "For too many children in the world today, the first
encounter with the technology of the 21st century is not
the screen of a personal computer but up the barrel of a
gun. "The click of the safety catch is more familiar than
the click of the mouse. "The proliferation of small arms
contributes to conflict on every inhabited continent.
"Ready access to small arms provides the means and the
temptation to start conflicts and it fuels the tensions
and suspicion which sustain conflict." The conference is
being hosted by the Government as a precursor to the UN
conference on weapons in New York in July. Delegates from
over 30 countries gathered at Lancaster House for the
start of the two-day conference. It is hoped the proposals
worked out will be considered and adopted by the UN later
in the year. It is also part of the international efforts
to stop small arms falling into the wrong hands. Three
million people have been killed around the world by such
weapons in the last 10 years. Mr Cook said work had been
done to limit the risk of weapons of mass destruction such
as nuclear missiles but the spread of small arms remained.
"Mao's famous dictum that political power comes from the
barrel of a gun remains a bitter truth for societies around
the world. "That is why Britain intends to propose an
international arms surrender fund as a further instrument
to help the world win the fight against the proliferation
of small arms. "The fund would not need to adopt a
prescriptive approach to small arms but could tailor its
operations to fit the circumstances of different regions."
Mr Cook said he would like to see the fund set up short
ly after the UN conference. He also said that countries
needed to do more to stem the flow of small arms by
regulating the legal trade. Although the damage and devastation
caused by weapons was mainly in the developing world, the
guns were often manufactured in the industrial world. Mr Cook
called for a better marking system on guns that showed their
country of origin so they could be traced. He said it would
make the illegal trade of guns more transparent. And the
Foreign Secretary also called for weapons to be destroyed when
recovered to stop them falling back into criminal hands. Chris
Mullin, a junior international development minister, said: "We
all have a collective responsibility to combat small arms
proliferation."
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I feel safer already
Kenneth Pantling
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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