SUMMARY: The motion, passed by the Chamber of Deputies with a vast majority (350 for, 9 against, 3 abstained), binds the Government to operate for the creation of an international regime preventing the proliferation of major conventional weapon systems.

The Chamber,

considering that the recent conflict in the Persian Gulf has 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 and totalitarian regimes: the Iraqi armed forces which occupied Kuwait and fought against the Coalition forces had 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 yearly income of the developed countries (less than 1%);

considering that arms exports and the transfer of military technology to the Third World subtract huge resources from the satisfaction of primary needs and the development of the importing countries: one third of the foreign debt of some of the most indebted developing countries can be attributed to arms imports; the value of arms transfers to the Third World every year exceeds the value of economic aid; the military expenditures of most countries of the Middle East in the last decade have amounted to 10 to 30 per cent of their Gross National Products;

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 industrialized countries, in parallel with the aforementioned international regimes, have in some cases deemed appropriate to set up cartels for halting the transfer of matériel 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 export of ballistics missiles with a range longer than 300 kilometres and a payload of more than 500 kilograms;

considering that the proliferation of major conventional weapon systems and of their technology takes place in a vacuum of international law, being there no Treaty or Convention, no regime or cartel, or negotiations on the issue under way;

considering that according to press reports ("U.S. Seeks Restrictions On Third World Arms", International Herald Tribune of 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 appropriate fora, and especially at the United Nations, for the creation of an international regime, or of a cartel of producers, to stop the proliferation of major conventional weapon systems 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 offered 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 developing countries that renounce the acquisition of major conventional weapons and of their technology. For the transfer of civilian technology and economic aid, priority should be given to those countries that reduce their military expenditures and make their domestic policy conform to democratic principles and the rigorous respect of human rights;

2) to act in all the appropriate fora for the attribution of control and sanction powers to the United Nations, also through the creation of a special international court, or through other appropriate means, to deal with the transfer of major conventional weapon systems;

3) to consider the creation of a regime or cartel to halt the proliferation of major conventional weapon systems as an intermediate stage towards the achievement of general and complete disarmament of all States;

4) to act in all the appropriate fora to uphold the existing regimes against the proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction, especially in view of the following deadlines: the third review conference of the Convention on Bacteriological Weapons, scheduled for 1991; the fifth and last review conference of the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, scheduled for 1995;

5) to act in all the appropriate fora, and especially at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, to urge the rapid conclusion and ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition of Development, Production and Stockpiling of Chemical Weapons;

6) 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;

7) to act in all ways for the opening of regional negotiations, first of all in the Middle East, modeled after 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;

8) to report to Parliament within six months with a report on the progress in the implementation of the aforesaid commitments.

Bonino - Radical Party

Piccoli - Christian Democrat Party

Cervetti - Democratic Party of the Left

Andreis - Green Group

Raffaelli - Italian Socialist Party

Pellicanò - Italian Republican Party

Costa - Italian Liberal Party

Servello - Movimento Sociale

Bassanini - Indipendent Left

Fagni - Mixed group, Rifondazione Comunista

Votes:

Present: 362

Voting: 359

Abstained: 3

Majority: 180

Voted YES: 350

Voted NO: 9