U.N. conference on small arms weapons ends

NEW YORK (CNN) -- After a two week session, a United Nations conference on small arms weapons ended on July 20. A plan to curb small arms trafficking around the world was drafted, but many countries feel the plan is a watered-down version, filled with too many compromises made to appease the United States resistance to limiting small weapons sales

Critics believe it will do little to combat the billion-dollar-a-year scourge.

The delegates from 189 countries debated until dawn to reach some form of consensus on small weapons.

But their sense of accomplishment was overshadowed by the frustration of those countries where illegal weapons pose the greatest danger to civilians.

From the very first day of the conference, the United States made it clear it would veto any plan that infringed on legal civilian ownership of weapons. This included clauses in the draft to limit weapon sales and restrict civilian gun ownership.

Knowing they needed U.S. backing to pass the resolution at the United Nations, other countries relented. The United States was satisfied with the results. It got nearly everything it wanted.

"I think what we ended up with was a very positive document because it points the road ahead for cooperation and that was the essential point," said Lincoln Bloomfield, U.S. delegate to the conference.

But the plan left others angry, protesting it will do little to combat some of the worst small arms proliferation - a scourge that causes over 1,000 deaths a day.

"While congratulating all participants for their diligence in reaching this new consensus, I must also express my disappointment over the conference's inability to agree due to the concerns of one state, on recognizing the need to establish and maintain controls over private ownership of these deadly weapons and the need for preventing sales of such arms to non-state groups," said Conference President Camilo Reyes Rodriguez.

As some of the countries in the world hardest hit by widespread access to small weapons, African nations, led by South Africa wanted a plan that would only allow weapons sales to governments. Reluctantly, they succumbed to U.S. pressure. The resolution does little to address the arming of rebels by governments, for example, and its recommendations are only that - non-binding recommendations.

It calls on governments to ensure records are kept in the manufacturing of small arms, so they can be traced. Governments are urged to put in place regulations to prevent illegal trafficking in small weapons and to criminalize the production, trade or collections of these weapons, but they don't have to.

The United Nations estimates that up to 60 percent of the 500 million small weapons around the world are illegal. They are easy to hide, and frequently fall into the hands of common criminals. They are also used in 46 of the 49 conflicts raging around the world since 1990. This has translated into the deaths of four million people, most of them women and children.

The New York-based watchdog group Human Rights Watch accused the United States of exhibiting an isolationist strain that put the powerful American gun lobby first. Even before the end of the conference, critics felt the writing was on the wall.

Joost Hiltermann, executive director of the Arms Division at Human Right Watch warned that the conference was headed toward a "program of inaction."