OCE/FSC: BITE THE BULLET--SAFERWORLD REPORTS ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USOSCE 000041

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR VCI/CCA, VCI/NRRC, EUR/RPM, EUR/PRA, EUR/CARC,
SCA/CEN, SCA/RA, PM/WRA
JCS FOR J-5
OSD FOR ISA (PERENYI)
NSC FOR HAYES
USUN FOR LEGAL, POL
EUCOM FOR J-5
CENTCOM FOR J-5
UNVIE FOR AC
GENEVA FOR CD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL KCFE OSCE RS XG
SUBJECT: OCE/FSC: BITE THE BULLET--SAFERWORLD REPORTS ON
SALW DIVERSION


1. (SBU) Summary. At the February 18, 2009 Forum for
Security Cooperation (FSC),two representatives from
Saferworld provided an overview of a February 2009 report on
preventing diversion of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW).
The report notes the work accomplished by international
organizations like the OSCE, but recommends additional
emphasis on assessing the risk of SALW diversion, tracing
shipments of SALW known to be diverted, and expand programs
for managing stockpiles of SALW non-military stocks.


2. (SBU) In Working Group A, Switzerland offered two minor
edits to the Food for Thought paper on postponing the
deadline for submission of Code of Conduct questionnaire.
The revised document will be released as a Chairman's draft
decision and discussed at the next WG A, which will be held
immediately prior to the February 25 FSC. End summary.

Biting the Bullet
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3. (SBU) The FSC met on February 18, 2009 at 0930 in advance
prior to the joint FSC-PC meeting featuring Russian DFM
Grushko's presentation on Russia's European Security
initiative. The FSC meeting featured presentations by Ms.
Elizabeth Kirkham and Mr. Bernardo Mariani from the NGO
Saferworld, which showcased a February 2009 report from the
joint project "Biting the Bullet" entitled, "Preventing
Diversion of Small Arms and Light Weapons: Issues and
Priorities for Strengthening Controls.". Kirkham led off
with a brief overview of the report's findings, including the
need for states to conduct comprehensive assessments on the
risk of SALW diversions when making licensing decisions; the
need to improve existing instruments for tracing diverted
shipments; and the need for better stockpile management.
Kirkham noted OSCE work; specifically commending last year's
FSC decision on preventing destabilizing transfers of SALW by
air as significant and encouraging development. Kirkham
concluded that efforts to address small arms diversion should
be integrated with wider efforts to implement all aspects of
the UN Program of Action on SALW and associated regional and
multilateral agreements.


4. (SBU) Mariani followed up by outlining concrete steps the
FSC could take to combat and prevent the diversion of SALW.
Mariani saw considerable scope for launching discussions in
the OSCE for pre-licensing risk assessment, development of a
risk assessment check list, and exploring avenues of
cooperation among participating States and others. He said
the OSCE could support the International Marking and Tracing
Instrument (ITI) and urged the OSCE states to provide
enhanced reports to the UN under ITI, including information
on tracing requests made and received. Furthermore, Mariani
called for the OSCE to extend its focus on stockpiles
management from military stores to other authorized stocks,
such as those of police and border guards. Finally, he said
that all these efforts could be wrapped up into one Best
Practice Guide (BPG) on preventing diversion of SALW, which
would include existing BPGs, fill in gaps were necessary, and
a systematic template for diversion risk assessment.


5. (SBU) Finland (Kangasta) and Germany (Kantorczyk ) as well
as the Head of the Group of Friends on SALW
(Schweizer--Germany) and FSC Coordinator for SALW Projects

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(Hartnell--UK) intervened in general support of the
presentations. Schweizer noted that the report followed
closely with the work conducted by the FSC, and asked whether
the speakers saw a need to move from current formats of BPGs
to more normative documents. Hartnell used the opportunity
to request donors for the SALW project in Belarus.

ASRC Dates
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6. (SBU) Following the presentation, the French Chair
(Simonet) noted that a draft letter from the FSC to the CPC
agreeing to the dates of the next Annual Security Review
Conference (ASRC),23-24 June, 2009 is currently under
silence. Participating States have until February 20, 2009
at 6:00 PM to comment on the letter.

Extension of Deadline for CoC Questionnaire Submission
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7. (SBU) In an abbreviated Working Group A, pS discussed the
German-Austrian FFT extending the deadline for pS to submit
their responses to the Code of Conduct questionnaire.
Switzerland proposed two minor to the preamble and expressed
support for the decision as long as all pS intend to use the
updated questionnaire for their 2009 submissions. Russia
(Ulyanov) said that Russia would support the decision, but
since one pS had already submitted its information for 2009
and others were already working on their submissions based on
the current questionnaire, pS must consider 2009 a
"transition year"--that is, pS should have the option of
using either the old or new questionnaire when preparing
their submissions. Germany (Schweizer) said he would take al
comments into consideration and provide the Chair with a new
draft for distribution next week as a Chairman's draft.
Ulyanov also reported that he anticipated that Moscow would
provide him with their edits for the updated questionnaire
next week. He noted that most of the recommended changes
would be technical in nature and would not change the
document's character. The Chair announced that WG A will
meet on February 25 at 9:45 am with the intent of adopting
the revised decision on extending the CoC submission
deadline.
SCOTT