05.39830-1- Translated from Arabic Syrian Arab Republic Permanent Mission to the United Nations New York Report of the Syrian Arab Republic on its implementation of the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects Following the dawn of independence in the 1950s, the Syrian Arab Republic elaborated a law governing the licensing and possession of small arms, specifically Act No. 403 of 1957. The implementing directives issued to spell out the substance of the Act, which took effect on the date of its promulgation, have been amended on several occasions in line with developments and security requirements. In 2001, following the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, convened in New York during the period 9-20 July 2001 and attended by all Member States of the United Nations, including the Syrian Arab Republic, and following the extensive discussions and exchange of views which took place during the Conference and the adoption of the final document of the Conference by consensus of all States, the Syrian Arab Republic promptly began taking measures at the national level in conformity with the recommendations of the Conference. In August 2001, a committee of the Ministries of the Interior, Justice and Economy was formed in order to review the Arms Act then in force and amend it in accordance with the national interest and security. Promulgated on 23 September 2001, Legislative Decree No. 51 comprises the Arms Act currently in force, which regulates all matters relating to the possession of small arms by foreign citizens resident in the country: licensing, possession, fees, penalties for the unlawful possession and trafficking of such arms, conditions to be met by a licence applicant in order for the licence to be granted, and other measures relating to the transfer, stockpiling, import, export and manufacture of arms. Given the State s concern to control the possession of small arms by citizens and reduce the uncontrolled proliferation of such arms, the Decree afforded citizens a six-month period in which to notify the State of any type of arms in their possession and license those which were licensable, should they wish to do so and provided that they met the licensing conditions. Alternatively, should they not wish to do so or if, under the provisions of the Decree, the arms were not licensable, they were given six months in which to surrender them to the State in return for an appropriate compensatory sum. These measures were introduced by the State as an incentive for citizens to provide information on any arms and ammunition in their possession and to surrender or license them, as stated above. On expiration of that six-month period, Legislative Decree No. 23 of 29 April 2002 was promulgated. Citizens were granted a further six months under the same conditions as before. Under the terms of the two said Decrees, thousands of weapons were surrendered to the State, together with the accompanying ammunition, and various licensable weapons were licensed.
05.39830-2- Promulgated on 10 April 2005, Legislative Decree No. 25 grants a further six months under terms identical to those stipulated in the Arms Act with a view to providing the opportunity for citizens to put matters in order as far as any other offending weapons are concerned and surrender weapons to the State, as required, in return for an appropriate compensatory sum. Also issued were implementing directives spelling out the provisions of the Arms Act and setting forth the implementation procedures to be followed by citizens and Government authorities. Here, we shall cite various provisions of the Act and its implementing directives as an example of matters relating to lice nsing, types of licensable weapons and the trade, import, manufacture, stockpiling and repair of weapons. 1. Licensing : Article 18 of the Arms Act provides as follows: An applicant for any licence provided for in this Act must satisfy the following requirements: (a) He must be over 25 years of age and enjoy full legal competence; (b) He must not have been given a custodial sentence, convicted of a felony or a shameful misdemeanour, given a sentence prohibiting him to carry arms, convicted of any offence prejudicial to State security, sentenced to punishment for offences relating to arms, explosive materials, narcotic substances or intoxication or sentenced to imprisonment for any offence involving smuggling, insurrection or concealment of criminals; (c) Any Arab or foreign applicant must be lawfully resident in the country; (d) His professional competence must be proven if the licence is related to weapons repair or the manufacture of fireworks. 2. Transfer: Article 4 of the implementing directives of the Arms Act provides as follows: Article 4 (a) 1. When wishing to transfer arms or ammunition from one place to another, the competent public -sector entities must provide sufficient advance notification to the governorate police command of the transfer operation, the place from and date on which the transfer is to be made, the quantities of arms and ammunition to be transferred, the mode of transfer, the recipient and the route; 2. The governorate police command which was notified of the transfer shall be responsible for communicating the information to the Department of Criminal Security for the purpose of coordinating with the concerned governorate police commands located en route to the place of destination concerning provision of the necessary security monitoring for the transfer operation and, where necessary, the provision of an adequate police escort; 3. The nearest police unit must be immediately informed by any available means of changes made to the transfer route for any reason. Article 4 (b) 1. It shall be forbidden to move arms, ammunition and fireworks in transit through the country without the approval of the Minister of the Interior.
05.39830-3- 2. Applications for transit approval shall be submitted with the supporting documents for the transit operation to the Department of Criminal Security, which shall be responsible for submitting such applications and its opinion of them to the Minister of the Interior. 3. The transit approval shall state the quantity and type of items to be moved in transit, the entity making the transfer, the name of the sender, the entity to which the transfer is being made, the addressee, the carrier, the route, the time of transit and any other conditions required in order to guarantee public security and safety. 4. The Department of Criminal Security shall transmit a copy of the transit approval to: The point of entry; The point of exit. 5. The Department of Criminal Security shall be responsible for coordinating with the concerned governorate police commands located between the point of entry and the point of exit for the purpose of providing the necessary security monitoring for the transit operation and, where necessary, an adequate escort by members of the police command in the governorate controlling the point of e ntry. 6. The nearest police unit must be immediately informed by any available means of changes made to the transit route for any reason. Licence periods and fees : The licence period for licensable small arms is five years, renewable. At the start of each renewal, the licensee must provide evidence to show that he continues to meet the required licensing conditions. A fee of 10,000 Syrian pounds is imposed for a five -year handgun licence. Fees for hunting licences and licences for the possession of hunting weapons vary in accordance with the calibre of the weapon. Penalties : Article 40 of the Arms Act, for example, provides as follows: The penalty of detention for 5 to 15 years and a fine of not less than three times and not more than ten times the value of the arms or ammunition seized shall be imposed on any person who: 1. Smuggles or attempts to smuggle arms or ammunition for the purpose of trafficking; 2. Knowingly possesses arms or ammunition that have been smuggled for the purpose of trafficking. Accomplices and accessories shall be sentenced to the same penalty as the main perpetrator. Article 41 of the same Act provides as follows: Article 41: (a) Any person who possesses or carries either a military weapon that is not licensable under the provisions of this Legislative Decree or the ammunition for such weapon shall be punished with imprisonment of three to six years and a fine of 10,000 to 50,000 Syrian pounds; (b) Any person who carries or possesses a military handgun or the ammunition for such handgun without a licence shall be punished with
05.39830-4- imprisonment of two to five years and a fine of 5,000 to 25,000 Syrian pounds. The examples cited demonstrate that severe penalties are typically imposed on those who contravene the Arms Act now in force, thus creating an effective deterrent to prevent the possession, smuggling or trafficking of unlicensed arms. Furthermore, we should like to say in short that the Syrian Arab Republic was among the first to elaborate a law regulating the possession, licensing, manufacture, trade, possession and transfer of arms. It should also be pointed out that, regardless of capacity, no citizen is permitted to license, possess or carry any type of small arms or light or other weapons other than those already mentioned; only the State, represented by the armed forces, is permitted to do so and only the State is permitted to engage in weapons-related activities such as manufacture, trade and transfer. All weapons confiscated from arms smugglers and persons in possession of unlicensed arms and ammunition are forfeited to the State and entered in its records. They are then kept and disposed of by the Government authorities alone. The aforementioned Syrian Arms Act prohibits the licensing of all types of machine weapons, milit ary guns, shells and ammunition other than in limited quantities and for licensable weapons only, and the purchase of such weapons is restricted to the authorized Government authorities. It should be emphasized that there are no special or licensed arms fa ctories in the Syrian Arab Republic; as already stated, the manufacture of and trade in arms is restricted to the State. No small arms or light weapons are therefore manufactured in the Syrian Arab Republic, with the exception of some Kalashnikov - type rifles for the purpose of partially supplying the requirements of the armed forces for such rifles. The Ministry of the Interior also purchased a number of the handguns surrendered during the period of amnesty granted to citizens under the Arms Act, again in o rder to supply the handgun requirements of the police force. The Syrian Arab Republic affirms its endeavour and its cooperation with the Governments of the international community, non-governmental organizations and civil society to combat the uncontrolled proliferation of, illicit trade in and brokering of small arms and light weapons. It appreciates that the presence of such weapons in the hands of gangs and terrorists is a danger to human societies, jeopardizing social and economic life and development, posing a security concern and causing human and material losses. Weapons in the possession of civilians are either licensed and limited in type and number, as already mentioned, to no more than one handgun and two hunting rifles, or unlicensed. Unlicensed possession occurs only on a limited scale and is highly clandestine in view of the heavy penalties, the increased awareness in society of the dangers posed by the uncontrolled possession of weapons, and the cooperation of the public in communicating info rmation to the Government authorities about persons who possess and trade in illicit weapons. With the exception of the licensable small arms mentioned, only Government authorities may possess, use, transfer, import, export and manufacture any type of weapon. The armed forces are in possession of weapons, which are well controlled in that they are securely stored in stockpile facilities that are safe in view of the sturdiness of the premises, their compliance with technical standards, the security
05.39830-5- monitoring, the lighting and the protection provided in both normal and emergency circumstances. No accidents of note have occurred. Our country, the Syrian Arab Republic, has no surplus weapons; it manufactures no weapons other than within narrow limits in order to satisfy partially the requirements of the armed forces. For that reason, there is no surplus and no need for the destruction of large quantities of weapons. Any destruction operations are single incidents that take place once weapons ultimately become unserviceable through wear and tear. As for the reintegration of ex-combatants, since independence, our country has had no experience of civil or domestic war or regions outside the control of the State. The wars waged by the Syrian Arab Republic have been solely in order to defend itself and to liberate its occupied territories, including the Syrian Golan, which is hitherto still occupied by Israel. The problem of reintegrating ex-combatants is therefore non-existent, since army recruits return to the jobs which they were performing before they were conscripted into service and volunteers in the armed forces are released upon retirement and receive salaries until death. In concluding our report, we wish to state that our country cooperates fully at the national, regional and international levels in combating the illicit trade in and uncontrolled proliferation of small arms and light weapons and that is aware of their dangers, the tragedies which they cause in many parts of the world, of which we are an integral part, their impact on prosperity, their futile waste, their hindrance to development, progress and capacity-building and their adverse effect on women, children and society in general. It also affirms the right of all peoples to possess weapons for the purpose of legitimate self-defence and the liberation of their occupied territories in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, in particular Article 51 thereof.