A UN meeting meant to expand a five-year-old crackdown on the illicit global trade in small arms ended in chaos yesterday as delegates ran out of time without reaching agreement on a plan for future action.
Some delegates said negotiations had simply proceeded too slowly, leaving too much to accomplish on the last day.
But Rebecca Peters of the London-based International Action Network on Small Arms accused governments of letting a few states 'hold them all hostage and to derail any plans which might have brought any improvements in this global crisis.'
IANSA identified the main players blocking agreement as Cuba, India, Iran, Pakistan and Russia.
The conference was called to update an action plan agreed in 2001.
A recent report said a quarter of the $4 billion annual global small arms trade was illicit and that light arms were killing 1,000 people a day.
