DYB2011-Part-II-web

United Nations Disarmament Yearbook 2011: Part II
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With regard to the implementation of the Programme of Action on
curbing the illegal trade in small arms and light weapons, which was adopted
in 2001, efforts were made in 2011 through the Open-ended Meeting of
Governmental Experts, which focused its attention on the issue of marking,
recording-keeping and tracing of small arms, as well as on how best to tackle
the implementation challenges. Preparations also started in 2011 for the
Second Review Conference of the Programme of Action, scheduled for 2012,
with the selection of Joy Ogwu (Nigeria) as the Chair-designate.
The online database of the United Nations Register of Conventional
Arms received a new map-based platform, entitled “The Global Reported
Arms Trade”, which presents its data in an interactive, searchable and easily
accessible manner, thus providing greater transparency in the global arms
trade.
During 2010 and 2011, the Group of Governmental Experts on the
Standardized Instrument for Reporting Military Expenditures reviewed the
operation and further development of the instrument. The Group agreed on
a number of recommendations in order to make reporting easier and simpler,
one of which was to simplify the name of the instrument by calling it the
United Nations Report on Military Expenditures.
The Group of Governmental Experts on cluster munitions held a
series of meetings in 2011, as mandated, with a view to putting forward its
recommendation to the Fourth Review Conference of the States Parties to the
Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional
Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have
Indiscriminate Effects. The Review Conference took place in Geneva from 14
to 25 November.
Pursuant to the decisions of the Cartagena Summit for a Mine-Free
World (Second Review Conference), held in 2009, and the Tenth Meeting of
the States Parties to the Mine Ban Convention, held in 2010, the Eleventh
Meeting of the States Parties took place in Phnom Penh from 28 November to
2 December.
In accordance with the decision of the First Meeting of States Parties
to the Convention on Cluster Munitions held in Vientiane, Lao People’s
Democratic Republic, in November 2010, the Second Meeting of States
Parties was held in Beirut from 13 to 16 September and important decisions
were taken for the future of the Convention and its effective implementation.
For more information on the resolutions and decisions related to this
chapter, refer to appendix VIII.