A/RES/56/24 V T HE ILLICIT TRADE IN SMALL ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS IN ALL ITS ASPECTS The General Assembly, Recalling its resolutions 50/70 B of 12 December 1995, 52/38 J of 9 December 1997, 53/77 E and 53/77 T of 4 December 1998, 54/54 R of 1 December 1999, 54/54 V of 15 December 1999 and 55/33 Q of 20 November 2000, Recalling also its decision 55/415 of 20 November 2000 to convene the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects in New York from 9 to 20 July 2001, Welcoming the adoption by consensus of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects by the Conference, held in New York from 9 to 20 July 2001,50 1. Decides to convene a conference, no later than 2006, to review progress made in the implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, the date and venue to be decided by the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session; 2. Also decides to convene a meeting of States on a biennial basis, commencing in 2003, to consider the national, regional and global implementation of the Programme of Action; 3. Calls upon all States to implement the Programme of Action; 4. Encourages the United Nations and other appropriate international and regional organizations to undertake initiatives to promote the implementation of the Programme of Action; 5. Encourages non-governmental organizations and civil society to engage, as appropriate, in all aspects of international, regional, subregional and national efforts to implement the Programme of Action; 6. Encourages all States to promote and strengthen regional and subregional initiatives to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects; 7. Continues to encourage States to take appropriate national measures to destroy surplus, confiscated or collected small arms and light weapons, subject to any legal constraint associated with the preparation of criminal prosecutions, unless another form of disposition or use has been officially authorized and provided that such weapons have been duly marked and registered, and to submit, on a voluntary basis, information to the Secretary-General on types and quantities destroyed as well as the methods of their destruction or disposition; 8. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that resources and expertise are made available to the Secretariat to promote the implementation of the Programme of Action; 9. Encourages all initiatives to mobilize resources and expertise to promote the implementation of the Programme of Action and to provide assistance to States in their implementation of the Programme of Action; 10. Requests the Secretary-General to undertake a United Nations study, commencing during the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly, within available 36