Welcomes the Declaration of the Presidents of South America, adopted at their second meeting, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on 27 July 2002, in which they declared South America a zone of peace and cooperation;6
Commends the decision of the States of South America to ban the use or threat of use of force among themselves, in keeping with the principles and relevant provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the Charter of the Organization of American States;
3
Also commends the decision of the States of South America to ban the siting, development, manufacture, possession, deployment, testing and use of any type of weapon of mass destruction, including nuclear, chemical, biological and toxic weapons, and their transport through the countries of the South American region, in accordance with the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco)7 and other international conventions on the matter;
Notes with satisfaction the commitment of the States of South America to establishing a gradual system that will lead, in the shortest time possible, to the complete eradication of anti-personnel mines in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction8 and to implementing the recommendations of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects;9
9See Report of the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, New York, 9–20 July 2001 (A/CONF.192/15), para. 24.
5
Welcomes the desire of the States of South America to promote transparency and a gradual limitation of arms purchases under the system established in the Inter-American Convention on Transparency in Conventional Weapons Acquisitions,4 the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms and other arrangements established in the regional and international conventions related to this important topic;
6
Urgesall States of the other regions, particularly weapons-producing States, to cooperate decisively in combating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons throughout the region of South America;
7
Calls uponthe States of the other regions to contribute to and cooperate with the objectives set forth in the Declaration regarding a South American zone of peace and cooperation.
