Japan to Tie Its ODA, Other Foreign Aid to Weapons Collection
JPP20010708000020 Tokyo Mainichi Daily News (Internet version-WWW) in
English 08 Jul 01
[By Hiroaki Wada; English version of report attributed to Tokyo Mainichi
Shimbun in Japanese 7 Jul 01]
The government has decided to link overseas financial aid with the
rounding up of small arms and light weapons in a bid to cut down carnage
wrought by the weapons worldwide, sources revealed Saturday.
Along with tying official development assistance (ODA) to the
proliferation of small arms and light weapons, the government will also
seek to forge an international pact on the issue similar to a landmine
accord, government officials added.
Under the plan, to be unveiled at the United Nations' first conference
on the weapons in New York on Monday, ODA and other assistance will go to
countries that are determined to be making serious efforts to collect the
weapons.
About 500,000 people fall victim to small arms and light weapons, of
whom 80 percent are women and children. Casualties in regional conflicts
stem more often from small arms fire, rather than weapons of mass
destruction, sources said. No international regulations on the lighter
weapons currently is in force.
The proposal aims to provide an incentive to collect such weapons from
warring parties in countries and areas where regional conflicts have
broken out.
Tokyo intends to first extend assistance to Cambodia, and is
considering other hot zones such as the Solomon Islands, East Timor,
Kosovo and Niger as possible recipients.
Specifically, Japan will first aid prospective recipients to train
police and introduce a police-box system, similar to Japan's koban, to
help improve public safety. ODA will then be offered if they reach certain
-- as yet unrevealed -- benchmarks in rounding up small arms and light
weapons from warring parties. Assistance to such countries may include the
construction of schools and roads.
Officials added that Japan also hopes to help hammer out an
international framework for controlling smaller weapons and regulating
exports of such arms.
Senior Vice Foreign Minister Seiken Sugiura will attend Monday's UN
conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons, in which
Mitsuro Donowaki, former ambassador in charge of arms reduction, will
serve as vice chairman.
Japan has chaired experts' meetings on reducing small arms and light
weapons, and strongly proposed Monday's ministerial meeting, Foreign
Ministry officials said.
Small firearms and light weapons are items that one or a number of
people can carry, transport and fire, such as pistols, automatic rifles
and portable rocket launchers. There are estimated to be at least 500
million such weapons worldwide and about 1 million are in the hands of
rebel organizations.
The United States, China and Russia are among the main suppliers of
such weapons.
[Description of Source: Tokyo Mainichi Daily News (Internet version-WWW)
in English -- Daily newspaper published by Mainichi Shimbun Publishing
Co.]