Press Release M-NAC- 2(2000)121 Report on Options for Confidence and Security Building Measures (CSBMs), Verification, Non-Prolife- ration, Arms Control and Disarmament December 2000

3. Developments over the Last Decade in the Conventional Arms Control and Disarmament Field 3.4. Small Arms and Light Weapons The proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), through illicit and irresponsible transfers, fuels inter and intra-state conflicts in which increasingly civilians are both the targets and victims of the violence. There has been an increasing international awareness over the last decade of the need to prevent and reduce destabilising accumulations and flows of SALW. The UN, EU, OSCE and other international organisations have undertaken a number of initiatives at the global, regional and local levels. The UN General Assembly has agreed to convene an international conference on the illicit arms trade in all its aspects in the year 2001. Since January 1999, the member states of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) have accomplished a great deal of practical work on this issue.