-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Saturday July 21 2:26 PM ET UN Conference Agrees Crackdown on Small Arms Trade By Marjorie Olster UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N. conference reached an unprecedented agreement on Saturday to combat global firearms trafficking, but the final program was less ambitious than many countries had hoped for due to U.S. resistance. Weary delegates hammered out the final sticking points of the two-week-long conference at a tense, all-night meeting that ended at 6 a.m. EDT on Saturday. The agreement was formally approved hours later, at 1:30 p.m. EDT. Nearly all the concessions on language were made to keep from crossing a series of ``red lines'' that Washington had threatened would torpedo any accord. At the end of the session, the delegates were forced to drop the two most contentious clauses in the agreement -- government sales to ``non-state actors'' and restricting civilian possession of small arms -- because the United States opposed them. ``I'm happy to tell you that we have a document that reached consensus on this very important issue for all of us. It has been an extremely difficult process,'' said Ambassador Camillo Reyes of Colombia, the conference president, who praised the African countries for their diplomacy. ``Obviously, we could have obtained a better document, no doubt,'' he added when asked about the shortcomings of the final agreement. ``But at the same time I think we have a good start'' to begin ``eradicating the illicit trade of small arms and light weapons.'' Though many participants were disappointed at the extent of compromise needed to bring the United States on board and the nonbinding nature of the agreement, most agreed the pact was still an important step forward, if only a first step, toward grappling with an enormous challenge. ``By no means can I consider this conference a failure,'' said former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard. ``We knew it would be extremely difficult, that national interests would be completely contradictory. So it is a good beginning.'' Many delegates accused the Bush administration of pandering to the U.S. gun lobby, including the politically powerful National Rifle Association, but said it was clear there would be no agreement unless they yielded. GUIDELINES FOR CRACKDOWN The plan sets out broad guidelines for national and international measures to better track and crack down on the $1 billion-a-year business of illegal trade in small arms. The United Nations (news - web sites) says such weapons were used in 46 of 49 major conflicts since 1990, contributing to some 4 million deaths, 80 percent of them of women and children. As finally approved, the strategy to reduce small arms trafficking was significantly watered down from a draft developed by the 189 members of the United Nations during two years of preparations. Delegates conceded most of the main points of contention to Washington, which insisted from the outset that it could not accept any strategy that did not shield private gun owners, makers and dealers. In the end, the United States made one major concession by agreeing to a follow-up conference no later than 2006, an idea it initially resisted. ``They agreed to 85 out of the 86 paragraphs in the program of action,'' said Yasuhiro Ueki, a U.N. official. ``They were very hard negotiations.'' One of the toughest obstacles was Washington's insistence that governments be free to sell arms to ``non-state actors,'' arguing for the right, for example, to help freedom-fighters battling a genocidal regime. In the end, the clause was dropped. ``It was decided to drop those two issues and take them out of the program of action. That did not make a lot of countries happy. Many African countries expressed disappointment,'' Ueki told Reuters. While the initial draft urged international treaties to clamp down on arms brokers and to institute a global system of small arms marking at the time of manufacture so they could be more easily traced, the final document made no appeal for such legally binding pacts due to U.S. objections. The agreement instead urged the United Nations to study the feasibility of developing a global marking and tracing regime. None of the measures are enforceable under international law. Instead they are merely ``politically binding,'' meaning it will be up to member nations to pressure their governments. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
