UN Debates Controls on Small Arms

  
"Small arms proliferation is not merely a security issue; it is also an issue of human rights and of development," United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan told the organization's Millennium Assembly in March 2000. "The proliferation of small arms sustains and exacerbates armed conflicts. It endangers peacekeepers and humanitarian workers. It undermines respect for international humanitarian law. It threatens legitimate but weak governments and it benefits terrorists as well as the perpetrators of organized crime."

These words found renewed resonance at the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons. From July 9 through 20, representatives of member states and more than 170 NGOs came together to address a problem that has had a high cost in human lives. According to the conference's president, Colombian Ambassador Camilo Reyes, "the main challenge of this conference will be the design of measures that adopt a holistic approach toward formulating a course of action that leads the international community toward a drastic reduction in the numbers of small arms and light weapons available at the national, regional and global levels."

Officially, small arms are defined as being for personal use, and light weapons as those destined for use by organized groups. The UN estimates that there are nearly 500 million of such weapons in circulation around the world, the equivalent of one for every 12 people. The Inter-American Development Bank calculates the direct and indirect costs of violence associated with small arms at between $140 billion and $170 billion per year in Latin America alone.

According to the 2001 Small Arms Survey, these weapons are involved in approximately 1000 deaths each day. The number of victims between 1990 and 1995 is estimated at 3.2 million, with the majority women and children.

These figures have led some countries and international organizations to pursue joint campaigns to sway international opinion. A similar effort against land mines culminated in the Ottawa Treaty. But in this case, commercial interests seem to outweigh the good intentions of the organizers.

The United States assistant secretary of state for arms control, John Bolton, told the conference that the US would oppose any decision on the part of the UN to reduce the traffic in light weapons if it interferes with the right of individuals to bear arms. (The UN has stated that the millions of weapons in circulation around the world far exceed the number "necessary" for personal defense). Bolton also insisted that the US closely supervises small arms exports and deliveries across its borders.

Discussion of a possible Plan of Action has focused on such issues as closer control of legal weapons production and possession, the creation of a standardized system to trace illegal weapons use, tightening controls over exports, and examining access to small arms by police officers, the armed forces and civilians.

Countries such as Colombia (where, according to police reports, the number of confiscated weapons increased from 23,000 in 1994 to 42,000 last year), have called on the international community to aid in their efforts to combat a problem that poses a major threat to peace and security.

The 1997 Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials serves as a precedent for the UN conference. Many observers point out that any Plan of Action agreed to at the conference will be more of a point of departure for further discussion than a final product. Nevertheless, the UN forum marks an opportunity to address an important problem and to take the first steps toward a series of commitments that will benefit human lives everywhere.

For more information, see: www.un.org/Depts/dda/index.html