UN General Assembly
1999

mandate, adequate resources must be allocated to it. Drug trafficking into and through the Bahamas is a major threat to our socio-economic development. A significant proportion of the national budget continues to be spent on drug law enforcement. I wish to emphasize that even though we do so at the expense of vital national programmes, the Bahamas will not relent in its efforts to overcome the serious challenges posed by drug trafficking and related criminality. We are particularly concerned about the traffic in illicit firearms, which appears to be working in tandem with the drug trade. Further, with the increase in firearms comes an increase in violent crime committed with those firearms. We continue to urge greater efforts to control the illicit manufacture of and trafficking in firearms, including the ratification and implementation of relevant international conventions. The failure to achieve general and complete disarmament means that serious threats to international peace and security persist. The production and stockpiling of chemical, biological and other weapons of mass destruction exacerbate this situation. The Convention on