United Nations A/RES/57/70 General Assembly Distr.: General 8 January 2003 Fifty-seventh session Agenda item 66 (u) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly [on the report of the First Committee (A/57/510)] 57/70. Assistance to States for curbing the illicit traffic in small arms and collecting them The General Assembly, Considering that the illicit proliferation and circulation of and traffic in small arms impede development, constitute a threat to populations and to national and regional security and are a factor contributing to the destabilization of States, Deeply disturbed by the magnitude of the illicit proliferation and circulation of and traffic in small arms in the States of the Sahelo-Saharan subregion, Noting with satisfaction the conclusions of the United Nations advisory missions dispatched by the Secretary-General to the affected countries of the subregion to study the most appropriate way of halting the illicit circulation of small arms and collecting them, Welcoming the designation of the Department for Disarmament Affairs of the Secretariat as a centre for the coordination of all activities of United Nations bodies concerned with small arms, Thanking the Secretary-General for his report on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa, 1 and bearing in mind the statement on small arms made by the President of the Security Council on 24 September 1999, 2 Welcoming the recommendations resulting from the meetings of the States of the subregion held at Banjul, Algiers, Bamako, Yamoussoukro and Niamey to establish close regional cooperation with a view to strengthening security, Welcoming also the decision taken by the Economic Community of West African States concerning the renewal of the Declaration of a Moratorium on the Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of Small Arms and Light Weapons in West Africa, adopted at Abuja on 31 October 1998, 3 _______________ 1 A/52/871-S/1998/318. S/PRST/1999/28; see Resolutions and Decisions of the Security Council, 1999. 3 A/53/763-S/1998/1194, annex. 2 02 54268