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'League of Nations, Conference for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War, Geneva, 17th June 1925' [‎53r] (112/138)

The record is made up of 1 volume (65 folios). It was created in 1925. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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17
rejected sentence a provision to meet the appreheosions expressed by States
which particularly desired close control of trade in second category weapons ;
and he moved an amendment in this sense. Three amendments, Greek,
Spanish, and Ainerican, were now tabled, all with the same object in view ;
after some criticism of each in respect of form rather than intention, the
Drafting Committee was entrusted with the task of resolving their common
points into a form satisfactory to all. The performance of this task is seen
in the second sentence of Article 5 of the new Convention.
45. We have recorded this discussion in somewhat full detail as the
incident demonstrates—
(a) the reluctance of the Belgian delegate to acquiesce in anything tending
to restrict Belgium's prosperous manufacture of lethal weapons;
(h) a similar anxiety on the part of the American delegation not to fall
foul of trade interests in America, and a certain adroitness in
concealing this motive under a, cloak of anxiety for the preservation
of the sovereign rights of High Contracting Parties ; and at the
same time
(c) a real desire on the part of the American delegation to meet an
unfamiliar point of view urged with sincerity and obvious
justification by other States.
46. The final result is, we venture to think, not unsatisfactory from the
point of view of India, which is enabled to reinforce the safeguards afforded
by the Indian Arms Act by a check on the export of arms which are not
allowed to be imported into India.
47. This sentence in Article 5 contains the nearest approximation afforded
by the Convention to the realisation of India's third desideratum. That its
realisation, in the form in which it was stated by the Government of India,
was impossible can be seen from the second paragraph of Article 5, which
deliberately absolves the Government of an exporting country from the
responsibility of deciding, as the Government of India's proposal would have
had them do, that this or that country, not included in the special zone, is
an undesirable destination for second category weapons. Afghanistan is, we*
understand, pledged by the existing Anglo-Afghan Treaty to observe the Arms
Traffic Convention when it is ratified. If it should prove possible to induce
her to observe this pledge, it might be no less possible to induce the Afghan
Government to notify producing countries that second category weapons
may not be exported to an Afghan destination except under an official
Afghan endorsement. Similar action is no doubt equally or even more
feasible in the case of Persia. If this should prove to be the case, the first
and third paragraphs of Article 5 would, together, produce substantially
the same result as that aimed at by the Government of India's third
desideratum.
VII.—Publicity o£ Arms Trade.
48. As we have said,' :i: " the Conference accepted the principle underlying its imuor-
the Temporary Mixed Commission's draft that any international agreement tance as the
for the regulation of the traffic in arms must depend for its efficiency not on only 44 sanction."
"sanctions," since none could be devised, but on public opinion, which is *p av . l 17
assumed to be set firmly in the direction of disarmament and against
anything endangering the maintenance of world-peace. The trade in
implements of war must therefore be exposed to a full degree of publicity.
So far so good. But several minor points of difficulty presented
themselves.
49. In the first place, the non-producing States argued that the inferiority b .—Its effect on
from which they inevitably suffer in respect of security would be immeasurably security,
enhanced if their importations of weapons for defence were exposed to the
full light of day, while producers enjoyed the shelter of a screen of non-
publicity. (The representatives of the non-producing States spoke very
earnestly; so much so, indeed, that certain of the producing States seemed
to feel that their remarks, though couched in general terms, had a particular
target; at any rate, the Czecho-Slovakian delegate felt it necessaiy to
disclaim any bellicose intentions on the part of his Government, which alone
609 0

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Content

The volume contains the following two documents: League of Nations, Conference for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War: Convention, Declaration regarding the Territory of Ifni, Protocol on Chemical and Bacteriological Warfare, Protocol of Signature, Final Act (CCIA 91 (2)) and International Arms Traffic Conference, Geneva, May-June 1925, Report by the Delegates for India .

The delegates for India named in the second of these documents are Major-General Sir Percy Zachariah Cox and Colonel W E Wilson-Johnston.

The first of these documents is in both French and English.

Extent and format
1 volume (65 folios)
Arrangement

There are tables of contents towards the front of the first document, on folio 5v; and towards the front of the second, on folio 45v.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at 1 on the front cover and terminates at 66 on the back cover. These numbers are written in pencil, are enclosed in a circle, and appear in the top right hand corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. page of each folio. Foliation anomalies: ff. 13, 13A.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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'League of Nations, Conference for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War, Geneva, 17th June 1925' [‎53r] (112/138), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/748, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100024090486.0x000071> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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