L.1

The illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects

Japanese Delegation

Small arms and light weapons are de facto weapons of mass destruction, which claim a large number of victims every year. From the humanitarian point of view, it is imperative that we take urgent action to cope with this problem. We are therefore very pleased that we have been able to submit this draft resolution with so many co-sponsoring countries.

At the same time it is important that the effectiveness and efficiency of the United Nations budget spending be enhanced, so that we will be able to address high priority issues within the limited UN resources. In order to reflect such efforts in the UN programme budget for the biennium 2004-2005, we must further elaborate priority-setting among the issues. In this regard, Japan has strongly opposed expanding the UN budget without discussion of priority-setting.

Although this resolution involves PBI, we set a high priority to the issue of small arms and light weapons, and acted accordingly. However, our action on this resolution does not mean that Japan has changed its basic position on the necessity of prioritization of UN activities or on the overall level of the UN budget. Therefore, we will continue to carefully review the required costs and consult with the Secretariat and Member States concerned in order to avoid further increasing the level of the UN budget.

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