Mr. Chairman, honourable delegates,

The vast supply of light military arms, while perhaps not causing conflicts, can encourage the resort to warfare. And the easy availability of arms lengthens the duration and lethality of wars, causing not only immense civilian casualties, but also creating massive refugee flows.

The issue of small arms proliferation and misuse is one of particular interest and concern to Norwegian Red Cross. For this reason, Norwegian Red Cross joined together with several other Norwegian non-governmental organizations to form the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers (NISAT) in 1997. We will together with our colleagues from the Mali Red Cross and the Norwegian and Mali governments organise a workshop on small arms proliferation during the International Conference (next Tuesday at 5 p.m.).

In its July 1999 study, "Arms Availability and the Situation of Civilians in Armed Conflict," ICRC researchers estimated that, in general, more than 50 percent of war casualties—one out of every two in the 1990s—are civilians. In some recent conflicts, of course, the civilian mortality rate has been much higher.

Even when wars end, they often leave a legacy of an armed and insecure society, with resultant high levels of small arms mortality. In Central America, South Africa, Afghanistan, Cambodia and countless other places, armed violence remains commonplace after civil wars have concluded. In a survey conducted in one recently-warring state, the ICRC’s major study on the humanitarian impact of the proliferation of small arms found that due to the continued widespread availability of weapons, the number of light weapons injuries declined by only a small margin--less than 30 percent--in the "post-conflict" phase.

In addition, the light weight and small size of these weapons has made it possible for combatants to compel children to become soldiers. This practice has become all too commonplace in several of the bloodiest and most protracted conflicts—in Sudan, Liberia, Colombia and others.

In its excellent report, the ICRC made the case substantially and compellingly that the global trade in cheap small arms is contributing to an alarming rise in civilian casualties during this decade. Newly opened borders, post-cold-war arms surpluses and the rapid expansion of free trade have contributed to arms availability.

As a result, these weapons increasingly are falling into the hands of all types of fighters, including children, who are unconstrained by the rules of international humanitarian law. Tragically, warriors fighting both for and against governments all too commonly break these laws, and the violations appear to have worsened dramatically in the 1990s. According to the study, the proliferation of small arms is a "major factor" in the new disregard for the rules of armed conflict.

Earlier this decade our Movement played a central and effective role in awakening the world’s conscience to the inhumane and illegal nature of anti-personnel landmines. Assault rifles and grenades are not inherently indiscriminate, as are landmines, but they are clearly used in an indiscriminate manner all too often.

As a result, it is certainly the case that many more civilians are killed per year by small arms and light weapons than are affected by anti-personnel landmines. Thus, there exists a similar and strong humanitarian imperative for the international community—including the ICRC and the national Red Cross/Red Crescent societies—to work effectively against this scourge of guns and grenades.

In addition the humanitarian relief community has a very direct self-interest in combating this problem. Not only does armed conflict create the crises that relief workers are called in to alleviate but, small arms fire also hampers their ability to carry out their work. In an informal survey, ICRC field workers with significant experience in the field reported that their operations were routinely interrupted by armed violence.

Aid workers are increasingly being directly threatened—intimidated, kidnapped or, in more and more cases, killed. In fact, Norwegian Red Cross and three partner organizations launched the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers on 17 December 1997—the anniversary of the murder in Chechnya of six Red Cross relief workers who had been killed with automatic weapons one year previously.

We believe that this direct exposure provides national Red Cross/Red Crescent societies with a special credibility in calling for reform of policies that allow weapons into the hands of forces that abuse the laws of war.

The ICRC's recent report documents the devastating human costs of small arms proliferation and makes a compelling case national societies to take strong and supportive action to reduce surplus production and traffic in these weapons.

I therefore encourage you to cosponsor and actively support the resolution on the humanitarian consequences of arms availability at this Council of Delegates.