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

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 various activities in the field of practical disarmament for the benefit of others and for the sake of better coordination altogether. And, maybe more importantly, the Group tries to directly assist affected countries in their practical disarmament efforts by jointly sponsoring concrete endeavours.

So far, it has met six times to promote various projects. And two of them have already been implemented - with great success!

As the first such project, the Group adopted and jointly financed a "Train-the-Trainers" workshop for military experts from Central African States, held in Yaounde, Cameroon from 27 to 31 July 1998.

A second project has been introduced by Guatemala. It aimed at producing a policy study based on lessons-learned from collection of arms, and demobilization and reintegration of former combatants into civil societies in Central America for the benefit of other affected countries. To reach this objective, a workshop was held from 18 to 20 November 1998 in Guatemala City. In both cases, GIS as a whole was able to raise necessary funds and additional support directly from its members and to channel financial support to a trust fund of the United Nations.

The third project, which is currently under implementation, was introduced by the delegation of Albania. It calls for the assistance of the international community in creating incentives for a "turn-in" programme of weapons held by large parts of the civilian population in Albania. Under-Secretary-General Jayantha Dhanapala and a group of experts conducted the first fact-finding mission to the country in May 1998, following a request by the Albanian Government. The mission's report recommended the development and implementation of a pilot project in the district of "Gramshi", which would offer labour-intensive, income-generating community development activities as an incentive for the voluntary surrender of weapons. The "Gramshi Pilot Project" was born.

The uniqueness of the Project consists in its innovative approach of equal commitment to disarmament and development. The number of weapons per capita in Albania is extraordinarily high. These weapons delay political and economic progress. They endanger the life of each citizen in Albania, increase criminality rates and add further instability to an already explosive region. The Project could contribute to a safer and more prosperous future in the 9 communes and 98 villages of the Gramshi district. At the most recent meeting of GIS, the first financial contributions were announced. But more is expected to come, which is a very encouraging development. After all, this is what we had in mind when we tabled our first resolution on peace consolidation three years ago.

Disarmament is not just an esoteric and theoretical exercise. Practical disarmament is a very real issue and has a direct impact on the lives of people in countries affected by conflicts. Germany, as Chairman of GIS, will continue to play a very active part in this field.