Ministry Statements & Speeches:
New Zealand has supported this resolution, in both its concept and its details, since it was first proposed by Lithuania. We see the resolution as important because of the gains it makes in an area too little discussed by this Council.
We thank Lithuania for taking forward the initiative initially taken by Australia in Resolution 2117. As we have enumerated Madam President, the resolution operationalises small arms in many facets of this Council’s work and it also encourages wider adherence to the Arms Trade Treaty, one of the most important arms control treaties adopted in recent years. The resolution will also ensure that small arms have more than a temporary place on the Council agenda.
Sadly, over the past week the issue of Small Arms and Light Weapons itself has become secondary to a highly politicised debate.
We have some sympathy for the position of the three African states who wanted an explicit reference to transfers to non-state actors. New Zealand does not support the illicit transfer of arms to non-state criminal and armed groups. We could have accepted any of the formulations under discussion. We believe a solution could have been found if delegations on both sides of the debate had focused on the words on the page and taken a less positional approach in the negotiations.
Nonetheless, we are pleased that this resolution has been adopted with the co-sponsorship of a wide range of members of this organisation.