Cook urges weapons crackdown

Some children are 'more used to guns than computers'

The spread of small arms around the world should be targeted by a special international fund, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has said.

For too many children...the click of the safety catch is more familiar than the click of the mouse

Robin Cook

The call was one of several initiatives proposed by Mr Cook at an international conference in London.

He said it could help stop the flow of arms to illegitimate groups, including criminals and rebel fighters, which fuel violence and conflict.

Speaking to delegates at a conference on combating small arms and light weapons, Mr Cook said: "For too many children in the world today, the first encounter with the technology of the 21st century is not the screen of a personal computer but up the barrel of a gun.

"The click of the safety catch is more familiar than the click of the mouse.

"The proliferation of small arms contributes to conflict on every inhabited continent."

Access to such weapons provided "the means and the temptation" to trigger conflict and fuel tensions and suspicion, he added.

The foreign secretary's call follows his efforts in January to urge European Union foreign ministers to ensure small weapons exports only go to legitimate governments.

And the conference comes ahead of a United Nations weapons conference in New York this July.

Robin Cook hopes the UN will adopt his ideas

It is hoped any proposals from the London discussions will be considered for adoption by the UN later in the year.

An estimated three million people have been killed around the world by small arms in the last decade.

Mr Cook told delegates that although the damage caused by weapons was mainly in the developing world, the guns were often manufactured in the industrial world.

Work had been done to limit the risk of weapons of mass destruction, he pointed out, but the threat from the spread of small arms remained.

Mr Cook said the international fund would not need to adopt a "prescriptive" approach but could tailor its operations to fit the circumstances of different regions.

The aim would be to have the fund ready to operate later this year.

Government criticised

His other suggested initiatives include a better marking system so the country of origin of weapons can be more easily traced.

Mr Cook also called for illegal weapons to be destroyed when recovered to stop them falling back into criminal hands.

His proposals follow recent criticism of the government's attitude towards new arms trade law from Lord Justice Scott, author of the landmark Scott report into the arms to Iraq scandal.

He said it was "regrettable and disappointing" that "long overdue" changes had still not been made to UK legislation.