ABSTRACT: Motion, presented by Italian parliamentarians, both from the coalition supporting the government and from the opposition, calling "for the creation of an international regime, or, secondarily, of a cartel of producers to halt the transfer to developing countries of major conventional weapon systems, and especially mass-extermination weapons, as well as the technology and the components necessary for their manufacture".

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The Chamber,

considering that the current conflict in the Persian Gulf has by now demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt the senselessness of the policy of arms exports and the transfer of military technology to developing countries, in particular those ruled by dictatorial regimes: the Iraqi armed forces occupying Kuwait and fighting against the Coalition forces have in fact been armed and provided with military technology half by the Soviet Union and half by the Western nations, including Italy;

considering that arms exports and the transfer of military technology to the Third World, while resulting in a constantly increasing military threat to the interests of the exporting countries, represent a negligible share of the income of the developed countries (about 0.1% of the Gross National Product in the case of Italy), at the same time subtracting scarce resources from the satisfaction of primary needs and the development of the importing countries;

considering that long since the international community has deemed appropriate to set up regimes to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as in the case of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), in force since 1970, or the Bacteriological Weapons Convention of 1972, or yet the imminent conclusion at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva of a Convention on the Prohibition of Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Chemical Weapons;

considering that the industrialised countries, in parallel with the aforementioned international regimes, have in some cases deemed appropriate to set up cartels for halting the transfer of materiél and technology with potential military applications, such as the London Suppliers Club for nuclear energy and the Missile Technology Control Regime - the latter aimed at halting the spread of ballistic missiles with a range greater than 300 kilometres and a payload of more than 500 kilograms;

considering that according to press reports (<>, International Herald Tribune, January 22, 1991), the American administration is already circulating among the allies proposals to restrict the transfer of technology with a military potential to the Third World;

considering that during the sessions of August 23, 1990 and of January 7, 1991, with resolutions No. 6-00141 and No. 6-00152, the Parliament bound the government to submit a proposal for an agreement on the restriction and the control of the arms trade to the appropriate international fora;

considering, in conclusion, the need to strike at the political causes of the world arms race;

binds the government

1) to act in all the appropriate fora, and especially at the United Nations, for the creation of an international regime, or, secondarily, of a cartel of producers to stop the transfer to developing countries of major conventional weapon systems, and especially weapons of mass destruction, as well as the technology and the components for their manufacture. Within the sphere of such a regime or cartel, and analogous to the provisions of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, there should be guarantees and incentives for the transfer of civilian technology (at the same time as the creation of safeguards to block the diversion of civilian technology to military uses) and economic aid to those countries that renounce the acquisition of sophisticated conventional weapons and their relative technologies, that reduce their military expenditures and make their domestic policies conform to democratic principles and the rigorous respect of human rights;

2) to act in all the appropriate fora, and especially at the United Nations, to improve the export controls on high-technology products intended for the manufacture of bacteriological, chemical and nuclear weapons;

3) to act in all ways for the attribution of control and sanction powers to the United Nations, also through the creation of a special international court, to deal with the transfer of major weapon systems.

4) to act in all ways for the opening of regional negotiations, first of all in the Middle East, modeled on the CSCE (Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe), or in other words, capable of tackling and solving the problems of democracy and political rights within the various states, of disarmament, arms control, debt and co-operation in the relations among states;

5) to report to Parliament within six months on the progress made in implementing the aforementioned commitments.

Emma Bonino - FE Ermenegildo Palmieri - PDS

Flaminio Piccoli - DC Wilmo Ferrari - DC

Margherita Boniver - PSI Sergio Stanzani - FE

Giorgio Napolitano - PDS Germano Marri - PDS

Antonio Del Pennino - PRI Giuseppe Lucenti - PDS

Raffaele Costa - PLI Luigi Mombelli - PDS

Franco Bassanini - SI Vito Napoli -DC

Gianni Lanzinger - Verde Luana Angeloni - PDS

Martino Scovacricchi - PSDI Mariella Gramaglia - SI

Mario Raffaelli - PSI Bruno Zevi - FE

Antonino Mannino - PDS Elisabetta Di Prisco - PDS

Roberto Cicciomessere FE Matteo Piredda - DC

Chicco Testa - PDS Neide Umidi Sala - PDS

Luciano Guerzoni - SI Luciano Righi - DC

Abdon Alinovi - PDS Milvia Boselli - PDS

Tina Anselmi - DC Luigi Benevelli - PDS

Giuseppe Zamberletti - DC Ugo Crescenzi - DC

Giulio Quercini - DC Giuseppe Matulli - DC

Andrea Buffoni - PSI Daniela Mazzuconi - DC

Paolo Battistuzzi - PLI Giuseppe Orciari - PSI

Sergio De Julio - SI Luigi Rossi di Montelera-DC

Giuseppe Calderisi - FE Luigi Bulleri - PDS

Aristide Gunnella - PRI Amedeo D'Addario - PSI

Rosa Filippini - Verde Edda Fagni - PDS

Ada Becchi - SI Alberto Ferrandi - PDS

Bartolo Ciccardini - DC Milziade Caprili - PDS

Maria Teresa Capecchi - PDS Nedo Barzanti - PDS

Alessandro Tessari - FE Sergio Garavini - PDS

Giovanni Pellicani - PDS Nello Balestracci - DC

Lucia Franza Crepaz - DC Arnaldo Brunetto - DC

Giovanni Negri - PSDI Mario Frasson - DC

Ferdinando Russo - DC Giovanni Gei - DC

Rosario Chiriano - DC Maria Luisa Sangiorgio-PDS

Gianna Serra - PDS Annalisa Diaz - SI

Vincenzo Nicotra - DC Renato Ravasio - DC

Rosanna Minozzi - PDS Gianfranco Nappi - PDS

Vincenzo Ciconte - PDS Gianfranco Tagliabue - PDS

Gianmario Pellizzari - DC Giacomo Mancini - PSI

Giuliano Cellini - PSI Riccardo Bruzzani - PDS

Francesco Bruni - DC Francesco Cicerone - PDS

Leda Colombini - PDS Diego Novelli - PDS

Novello Pallanti - PDS Nadia Masini - PDS

Orazio Sapienza - DC Antonio Ciancio - PDS

Clelio Darida - DC Costante Portatadino - DC

Andrea Borri - DC Silvana Fachin Schiavi-PDS

Giuseppe Crippa - PDS Renzo Lusetti - DC

Annamaria Procacci - Verde Giuseppe Cerutti - PSI

Saverio Zavettieri - PSI Sergio Andreis - Verde

Franco Foschi - DC Gerolamo Pellicaṇ - PRI

Giovanni Russo Spena - DP Massimo Scalia - Verde