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Colleagues, The draft text in front of you today is the product of several months of work of our mission which culminated in week-long intense negotiations among the 15 members of the Council as well as multiple bilateral exchanges. I thank you all for your cooperation in producing this far reaching draft.  

We appreciate the comments and criticisms that have been expressed during the open debate which we view as an important part of the broader debate on SALW.  Critical thinking and good faith engagement are key for all of us to progress in our common efforts aimed at reducing and limiting the horrendous human cost of the uncontrolled, illegal spread of SALW around the world.

We value the strong support for the draft resolution that many delegations expressed during the open debate. As we submit it to the vote, we also bear in mind the passionate call from Karamoko Diakite, an arms control activist from West Africa, not to let down the victims of armed conflicts and adopt this resolution. He spoke from the depths of his personal experience. And through him, spoke the personal experiences and suffering of countless others, for whom the impact of the illicit small arms flows on their own fates and hopes as well as the fates and hopes of their loved ones is not just a matter of debate but the very real harm, the crippling injuries, the suffering and the deaths which they have been subjected to and which will continue to haunt them as long as they live.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This text is not ideal. But the world we like in is far from ideal either. In real world, we rarely if ever get to choose between all or nothing. The results we desire are usually achieved through perseverance, patience, laborious efforts, and compromise, building bit by bit, piece by piece, and block by block. That is what we sought to do with this resolution: to build on the excellent Australian resolution adopted in 2013 by adding new results-oriented elements,  those much needed bits and pieces for the foundation on which the SALW discourse and action can and I hope will continue to be built in this Council. Let me go through some of the new elements in the text before you.

This draft resolution contains important new language on the Arms Trade Treaty, that landmark instrument we have so painstakingly and passionately negotiated over an extensive period of time. Had we taken the approach “all or nothing” as some would have wanted with this draft resolution, we would not have the ATT today, and the world would be worse off because of that.

Our draft resolution has a strong focus on the human costs of the illicit spread of SALW and the need to protect the victims: women, children, and other vulnerable groups. It also speaks loud and clear on the critical role of women in tackling the SALW problem.

The draft has extensive new provisions on supporting capacity building of and assistance to affected countries, calling on the UN entities to identify capacities that could contribute to countering the illicit transfer, destabilizing accumulation and misuse of small arms and light weapons. It calls on the UN system to act in a more coherent fashion in helping host states, including through assisting weapons collection, enhancing physical security and stockpile management practices, safe and effective management, storage, marking, record-keeping and tracing of stockpiles of small arms and light weapons, as well as collection and destruction of surplus, seized, unmarked, or illicitly held weapons and ammunition, and the development of national export and import control systems.

It emphasizes the need to strengthen border security, judicial institutions and law enforcement capacity; and calls to examine and facilitate the transfer of technologies that would improve the tracing and detection of illicit transfer in small arms and light weapons, as well as for greater transparency in SALW transfers. As Boho Haram, Dae’sh and their likes burn, kill, enslave, and rape with the help of small arms and weapons, this draft contains very concrete language on the threat of terrorist groups and calls on the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee, its Monitoring Team, the Counter-Terrorism Committee and the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate to engage on the threat of weapons in terrorist hands and develop plans of assistance to countries in need.

All of these and other new elements could have a tangible impact on tackling the illicit SALW problem - and  if implemented, could  make a difference to the hundreds of thousands of people suffering from  ongoing conflicts. And let me be very clear: contrary to allegations by some, none of these new elements in the draft impinge on or violate state sovereignty.

The real threat to national sovereignty and all the core rules and norms that govern nations and human lives  comes from the  actions by terrorists, illegal armed groups, militant mercenaries, trans-border organized crime, traffickers and smugglers of all stripes who slaughter, ravage, and destroy without borders  - not the efforts reflected in this draft to seek greater coherence within the UN system in order to better help counter the problem of  illicit arms in the hands of the criminal murderous monsters. The draft text clearly stipulates that all measures would be implemented only as appropriate, within existing mandates, and as requested by affected countries.

Colleagues,

Every minute as we speak, someone loses life because of the illicit trade or misuse of small arms and light weapons. Besides causing deaths and injuries, such illicit flows facilitate an entire range of hideous human rights abuses and atrocities.

They strike at the very core of the human rights of women and girls. Every day, whether in their war- ravaged villages or in displacement and refugee camps, women in conflict situations have to make the impossible choices that none of us would ever want to make: to see their families starve or to venture out in search of whatever meager  edibles they can find, to fetch water, to gather cooking wood… All of this at the risk of being caught, hurt, or raped at gunpoint. For many women and girls, even tending to the basic bodily needs on the edge of a camp may become literally, a matter of life and death.

Think of the mothers who live in continuous fear that rebels, terrorist, or militant gangs may attack their homes and steal, abuse, rape, kidnap their children, and sell into slavery their daughters. Think of the displaced, of religious minorities running for their lives; of the elderly and the disabled who simply can’t run. Think of the children, as young as six or eight, barely able to hold a gun, scared, brainwashed, and forced to maim, torture, and kill in order to live. We have heard hear-rending testimonies of former child soldiers at this Council. Have we so easily forgotten?

Think of all those lives, maimed and destroyed- imagine what it’s like to be in their place- as you take action on this resolution  which has been drafted and negotiated by my delegation with the sole purpose to make  a difference to those desperately in need, to  reduce the human cost of the illicit spread of SALW. Those people cannot defend themselves. But we can. And we should. The choice to take the side of the victims is ours to make. I do hope we all are on the right side.