Adoption of Japan's Draft Resolution on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects in the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly

1. On the morning of October 22 (New York time) a Draft Resolution on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects submitted by Japan, was unanimously adopted in the First Committee of the U.N. General Assembly. (Note: The Japanese delegation was headed by Ambassador Kuniko Inoguchi of the Permanent Representative of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament.) This resolution was drafted by Japan in cooperation with Colombia and South Africa. The very fact that this resolution was submitted by 132 countries and adopted unanimously by the U.N. member states shows the international community's strong support for this resolution.
2. As a result of the adoption of this resolution, the first biennial meeting of states to consider the implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, as stipulated in the Programme of Action adopted at the UN Conference in 2001, will be held in New York in July 2003. It was already agreed at a meeting on October 18 that Ambassador Inoguchi will be appointed to chair the meeting in July 2003.