A year-old 'group of interested states' takes stock of successes and plans new projects.

• Author: Kastrup, Dieter
• Position: Nuclear disarmament

The concept of "practical disarmament", which was first introduced by former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in his "Agenda for Peace", has been given increased attention by Member States, the international community in general, and Secretary-General Kofi Annan in particular in his reform programmes. In most conflict and post-conflict environments - from Angola to Liberia, Mali, Mozambique or Sierra Leone, from Guatemala to El Salvador, in the former Yugoslavia, Albania or Cambodia - questions of control of small arms and light weapons, demining, and demobilization and reintegration of former combatants are increasingly considered to be crucial to effective conflict resolution and post-conflict rehabilitation. To address these situations, different and often overlapping aspects have to be linked: disarmament, peace-building, peacekeeping, peacemaking, post-conflict confidence-building, security and development. This requires a comprehensive and integrated approach.

Such was the conceptional starting-point of the German initiative on practical disarmament measures. Germany has attached particular importance to this realm of problems for many years, particularly in the framework of relevant United Nations bodies. In 1996, we introduced to the First Committee a draft resolution on "consolidation of peace through practical disarmament measures". Co-sponsored by 42 countries, it was adopted by the General Assembly without a vote as resolution 51/45N, and later included in the ongoing deliberations of the United Nations Disarmament Commission.

The 1997 follow-up resolution, 52/38G, co-sponsored by 63 delegations, explicitly referred to the August 1997 report by the Secretary-General on practical disarmament, and established the Group of Interested States (GIS) to facilitate this process and to build upon the progress achieved so far.

Last year's resolution, 53/77M, co-sponsored by 66 Member States, keeps up this momentum and encourages GIS to continue its work.

Since its establishment under German chairmanship in New York on 4 March 1998, GIS, which is open to all interested States, has tried to work hard to strengthen international cooperation in the field of peace consolidation, especially as undertaken by affected countries themselves.

The Group already has become, in close cooperation with the UN Secretariat's Department of Disarmament Affairs, a focal point where delegations can meet to exchange information about their...