Where appropriate, the Council should impose arms embargoes and other sanctions, targeting the illicit trades that pay for these weapons. Most importantly, the Council must not merely call for, but rather must ensure, full and effective implementation of these measures. If we are successful in curbing the flow of diamonds, it will help the Security Council to devise models that might apply to other conflicts. In this context, efforts to control the spread of small arms call for a shift in the way we apply sanctions. Comprehensive sanctions cannot and must not be used as a way of doing peace and security on the cheap.
Sanctions are a blunt instrument.
And as we know, blunt instruments hurt but not always the ones they are intended to hurt. We need to make sanctions razor sharp. They should be pointed at the perpetrators of conflict they are the ones who should suffer, not innocent people. Small arms are a big problem. We should pledge here to achieve a global division of labour to fight on all fronts from the Security Council to individual governments to the level of community organizations to address the menace of small arms.