Ambassador Mona Juul (Norway), chair of the First Committee, is interviewed by Charles Nasibu, Congolese IANSA member.

Several resolutions on small arms and the conventional arms trade have been passed at the First Committee of the UN General Assembly and are pending adoption by the full General Assembly.

The first, Towards an Arms Trade Treaty, received extensive media coverage globally and has been recognised by governments and campaigners as a significant milestone. Click here to find out how your country voted.

The second resolution received less less attention but is of particular interest to IANSA members and other organisations working on small arms.The illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects, the 'omnibus' resolution tabled by Colombia, Japan and South Africa, has revived the UN small arms process that stalled during the Review Conference (RevCon) in July 2006. Click here to find out how your country voted.

In a show of overwhelming support for the resolution, all states present voted in favour except the US, which lodged a ‘no’ vote. There were no abstentions.

The small arms resolution calls for ongoing commitment by states to the UN Programme of Action and confirms that the next biennial meeting of states will occur before the end of 2008.

Both resolutions now require confirmation by the plenary committee of the UN General Assembly. Though dates have not been confirmed, this is likely to occur in November or December 2006.

Click here for a full list of small arms-related resolutions voted on at the First Committee.