Tokyo Workshop on Small Arms and Light Weapons: “SALW Issues from thePerspective of the Protection and Empowerment of the Peaceful Community”
Tokyo, 12-13 March, 2007
Keynote Speech
Toward a New Multilateralism: Eradicating Illicit SALWs
Kuniko INOGUCHI, Ph.D.
Member of the House of Representatives
Member of the Science Council of Japan

Mr. Chairman, Excellencies, and friends,(Introduction)
It is my great honor and pleasure, as Chair of the United Nations First Biennial
Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action toPrevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weaponsin All Its Aspects, held from 7 to 11 July last year in New York, to address theTokyo workshop on SALW today.

I served as Japan’s ambassador to theConference on Disarmament at that time, and I am especially happy to deliver a
keynote statement under the chairmanship of Ambassador Mine, my successor inGeneva.

I am indeed delighted to see many familiar faces, and also look forward

to meeting new colleagues, who are experts of disarmament affairs. Allow me, firstof all, to congratulate the organizer of this workshop, Ministry of Foreign Affairs ofJapan, for the tireless efforts to make sustained commitment to enhance processes
to combat illicit SALW and its devastating direct and indirect impacts.

This

workshop is yet another constructive initiative to gather, share, and disseminate
local and regional knowledge in coping with the problems of small arms.
Also allow me to share with you some of the professional achievements I havemade after my chairmanship at the UN.

Upon my return from Geneva in spring

2004, I went back to a career as a university professor, and at the same time served1

as a core member in launching a small arms NGO network, namely, JANSA, Japan
Action Network on Small Arms. In May 2005, I served as the co-chair of the firstmajor international NGO conference on small arms in Japan, entitled “Farwell toSmall Arms.” I also continued to serve as a member of the UN Advisory Board onDisarmament Affairs for the Secretary General, formerly Mr. Kofi Annan, andwrote extensively on the participatory approach in rebuilding weapon-freecommunities and on gender and disarmament. In summer 2005, I decided to runfor the General Election to serve the cause of democracy, and was successfully
elected as a Member of the House of Representatives.

I was soon appointed bythen Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as Japan’s first Minister of State for Gender
Equality and Social Affairs. I currently serve as Foreign Policy advisor to theSecretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the ruling party. I willcertainly continue to make efforts as law maker and foreign policy advisor toinvigorate Japan’s commitment to disarmament affairs including SALW.
(Follow-up Conference and Biennial Meetings)
More than five years have passed since the adoption of the Programme ofAction which was a landmark consensus of states against the illicit traffickingof small arms.

As we are aware, the PoA requires steps to be undertaken for

the effective follow-up of the 2001 Conference. These include a Conference toreview progress made in the implementations of the PoA, and meeting ofstates on a biennial basis to consider the national, regional and global
implementation of the PoA.

Despite difficulties, the Review Conference andthe biennial meetings offered important opportunities for all States to recounttheir experiences and to gather the momentum to invigorate both political will
and professional competence, and to identify appropriate strategies and share
understanding of how best to address the many and complex challenges ahead.
They have also served as a forum to strengthen the partnerships for action
among states and with civil society.
Above all they were instrumental in fostering the collective sense ofownership for the process that the States initiated in July 2001.

For example,

I remember with pride that the convening of the first Biennial Meeting in 2003
served as a kind of catalyst to facilitate voluntary submission of national2

reports by more than 100 Member States, a dramatic rise from the previousyear. I was happy to hear that last year nearly 140 countries had reported on its
implementation, and an overwhelming majority now have laws to restrict theflow of illicit SALW, and more than half of them have established national
coordinating bodies to check their spread. I also hear that a third of all States
have made efforts for weapons collection and destruction programs, and amajority have implemented standards and procedures to secure and manage
weapon stockpiles.

These issues were all crucial pillars of what we called athematic discussion following the general debate at the First Biennial Meetingin 2003.
(Thematic clusters)
Since the thematic clusters around which thematic discussions were organizedin the first Biennial Meeting seem to be relevant as we organize our thinking
concerning collective action against illicit small arms, I shall take thisopportunity to reiterate the importance of each cluster.
The first cluster deals with weapons collection and destruction, stockpile
management, and DDR (disarmament, demobilization and reintegration offormer combatants). The second cluster focuses on capacity-building, resource
mobilization, institution-building. This is one of the themes of our workshop
today. The third cluster is on marking and tracing.

This is listed in theFollow-up chapter of the PoA. The most significant result of the negotiations
among States is the adoption of the International Instrument to Enable Stated
to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms andLight Weapons. We must urge all Member States to discharge a politicalresponsibility to implement the Instrument and submit national reports on theirimplementation

statusofthePoA

includinginformationontheirimplementation of the Instrument.
The fourth cluster is related to linkages, namely, linkages of illicit SALW withterrorism, organized crimes, trafficking in drugs and precious minerals. The
fifth cluster is on import/export control and illicit brokering.

I amencouraged hear about the establishment and a good start of the Group of3

Governmental Experts on Brokering. The last cluster is on humandevelopment, public awareness and culture of peace, and children, women andelderly, namely vulnerable groups.

It is my hope that this Tokyo workshop

provides special attention to the last cluster.

It is expected that States makesignificant progress in all of these thematic priorities and translate wordings of
the PoA into concrete, effective and robust actions on the ground.
(Regional achievements)
Regional and sub-regional cooperation to stem the flow of illicit SALW is essential
in combating small arms problems. I particularly welcome the entry into force of
the Southern African Development Community and Nairobi Protocols.

As former

UN Chair, I participated in the 2nd Ministerial Review Conference of the Nairobi
Declaration on SALW in 2004, at which ministers successfully came to substantiveagreement.

It was encouraging to observe that proactive regional efforts are being

made in response to and as an integral part of the UN process at the global level.
(Roles of the Security Council roles)
Despite the progress made so far, there are a number of recommendations whichcome to my mind as I revisit the issues of small arms. First, it is my hope that theSecurity Council would address the problems of illicit small arms and hold publicdebate to highlight the importance of the issue, and also interact with the General
Assembly with a view to developing long-term strategies to reduce the demand andexcess accumulation of weapons. Second, more studies needs to be done on thelinks between the illicit trade in small arms and the illicit exploitation of naturalresources, precious minerals and drugs, and put in place effective strategies to stop
harmful linkages.

Third, the international community must reach agreement on arealistic and effective approach to end-user certification. The list can go on but , I
would like to focus today more on a broader issue and discuss people-centeredapproach.
(People-centered approach and reconciliation)
SALWs and their ammunition still kill more than 500,000 people annually orapproximately 1400 per day. Vast majority of the victims are civilians, and 300,000
people are killed by SALW in armed conflicts every year. This leads us to think4

that there is a need for an enhanced recognition of the people-centered aspect of theSALW issue. There is also a need to focus upon the central role that reconciliation
plays in the disarmament processes at the local level.
(Deep-rooted conflicts)
After the Cold War period, the characteristics of violent conflicts have changed
from a traditional inter-state conflict to a deep-rooted intra-state conflict involving
grass-roots communities.

Although the likelihood of large-scale internationalarmed conflicts seems to be receding, regional ethnic confrontations and civil war
have a horrendous and increasing impact on people's security. Almost all suchconflicts are fought by small arms and very often by illicit weapons.

Amongst themulti-dimensional sources of human insecurity, the most direct threat is thepresence of illicit and excessive accumulation of small arms and their continued
proliferation in post-conflict zones.
The shift in the characteristics of violent conflicts from a traditional inter-state
conflict to a deep rooted intra-state conflict requires not only political arrangementsfor peace, but also social reconciliation at a community level. Reconciliation at allpolitico-social levels, including at the grass-roots level within different
communities, is the key to ending a violent conflict and reconstructing war-tornsocieties. Reconciliation is both a goal and a process to find a way to coexist withformer adversaries by sharing a future.
Designing of a comprehensive reconciliation based process requires the multiple
and mutually-complementary commitment of resources of political, economic anddiplomatic dynamics, in order to move from a divided past to a shared future.
In societies emerging from deep-rooted conflicts, it is important to design
disarmament programmes with a view to facilitating reconciliation. Since
disarmament is an indispensable element in the early stage of post-conflictreconstruction, careful designing of an appropriate small arms disarmament
programme, with the concept of “reconciliation” at its core, is of crucialimportance.
5(Community-based, participatory approach)
The views and needs of the “real” people who are directly and indirectly affectedby SALW proliferation need be put at the centre of SALW programs. Wider
participation of local community members creates a sense of ownership and thus
helps to build a "critical mass" of positive stakeholders for reconciliation, including
women and children and young adults. It also increases the likelihood of theprogram’s success. By engaging ex-combatants to work together, confidence andreconciliation among former fighting parties can be generated. A broad
community-based participatory approach in post-conflict disarmament programs
serves to build confidence among community members in the sustainability ofpeace.
(Economic and social incentives on a collective basis)
Disarmament is at the core of the reconstruction and development of war-affectedcommunities.

Small arms disarmament programs need to be designed in such away that community-based collective socio-economic benefits and incentives areprovided, such as hospitals, schools, vocational training and entrepreneurial
opportunities.

Peace education to bridge the ethnic divide and to enhance humansecurity values is also necessary. Such community-based approach is essential incurtailing demands to hold weapons.
In post-conflict situations, it is important for the international community to help
prevent resurgence of conflicts, not only through disarmament and demobilization,
but also by promoting reconciliation. It is particularly important to consider how
disarmament programs can be designed with a view to enhancing reconciliation. I
would like to add an extra R to DDR, namely, DDRR, disarmament, demobilization,reintegration, and reconciliation.
(Power of Knowledge)
Before I conclude, I would like to express my expectation for the community ofexperts and the role they can play in what I would call new multilateralism.

Oneof the increasingly important features of the international relations today can befound in the rise of power of knowledge that influence the decision making processof states.

Particularly in multilateral diplomacy where international norms and6rules are negotiated, the power of knowledge and knowledge-based interactions
have become key elements in exercising leadership and fostering consensus.

This

is because governments today have come under increasing pressure to address andrespond to a wide-range of complex global issues that cannot be solved simply by
raw power or even by raw economic power.
This is why the civil society, including scholars, researchers, think tanks, non-profit
organizations and/or NGOs, and all interested citizens are important partners in theinternational decision making process.

The military power rests with states.

economic power belongs to states and economic sectors.
belong only to each human existence.

TheBut knowledge canThus governments, in order to be effective

and powerful, would find greater incentive to reach out to the civil society to makeuse of knowledge including local knowledge that belongs to people.

In thiscontext, it is important to invigorate the knowledge-base of the civil society, andencourage the accumulation of professional expertise and local knowledge,including the voice of the affected.

(Towards New Multilateralism)
These dynamics could serve as the basis of a new paradigm in international
decision making, namely New Multilateralism.

It could even become atheoretical alternative to New Conservatism.

The hallmark of New

Multilateralism is the power of knowledge.

Partnership with the civil society

and a sense of ownership on multilateral issues by a wide range of stakeholders
including local communities is another characteristics. Putting a priorities onhumanitarian progress and affected/ survivors is essential.

As expressed in thestructure of the PoA on SALW, coordinated and streamlined processes among
global, regional, national, and local levels also constitute integral parts of New
Multilateralism. Also New Multilateralism is implemented with result-orientedmindset.

It is my hope that our fight against illicit small arms benefit from somefirst signs of New Multilateralism in the 21st century international community.

(Conclusion)
I am convinced that with wealth of experiences and expertise each one of you
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brings to our discussions, with our collective commitment to the task at hand, wewill all emerge at the end of the workshop, individually and collectively, withrenewed dedication to pursue innovative actions to reduce illicit small arms andlight weapons in all our countries and around the world.

As I used to state as theChair of the UN first Biennial Meeting, no State alone can prevent, combat anderadicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, and no State is alone.
As a law maker of the ruling party, I will make sure that Japan stands by the statesand societies that are striving to make a profound difference for the generations tocome by creating a safer and less tragic world. I thank you.

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