M
Matt25
Guest
Taking Aim at Small-Arms Trafficking
Sometimes it’s the little things that count, and that’s true also when it comes to armaments. For two weeks, Jan. 9-20, the United Nations has been reviewing progress made in reducing the trade in small arms. U.N. estimates reckon there are more than 600 million small arms and light weapons in circulation worldwide. They come from a variety of sources, including illicit trading, leftovers from conflicts, and theft from military and police armories. The Zurich-based International Relations and Security Network, in a report it published Jan. 11, said that small arms are responsible for more than half a million deaths per year, including 300,000 in armed conflict and 200,000 more from homicides and suicides…
One group active in pressuring for measures to restrict small arms is the International Action Network on Small Arms. IANSA is a sort of a global network of civil society organizations that are working to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms.
IANSA wants governments to strengthen some of the existing provisions, such as clarifying the responsibilities of states to regulate small arms transfers. It is also pressuring for the adoption of a set of global principles for arms transfers, based on international law, in order to close the legal loopholes exploited by weapons dealers. Ideally this would lead to a legally binding instrument to control arms brokers, wherever they operate.
IANSA prepared a number of position papers for the meeting just concluded in New York. Among the issues addressed was the question of how to regulate the international trade in small arms. The problem is not easy to deal with. Almost half the countries in the world manufacture small arms. And almost every country is involved in the international export, re-export, transit or import of small arms. In addition, the vast majority of countries have insufficient controls on the international transfer of those weapons. **The background paper noted that, alongside the right of states to buy weapons for legitimate self-defense and responsible law enforcement, they also have a responsibility to ensure that transferred small arms are not used to violate international human rights or humanitarian law, or to hamper development. **
Sometimes it’s the little things that count, and that’s true also when it comes to armaments. For two weeks, Jan. 9-20, the United Nations has been reviewing progress made in reducing the trade in small arms. U.N. estimates reckon there are more than 600 million small arms and light weapons in circulation worldwide. They come from a variety of sources, including illicit trading, leftovers from conflicts, and theft from military and police armories. The Zurich-based International Relations and Security Network, in a report it published Jan. 11, said that small arms are responsible for more than half a million deaths per year, including 300,000 in armed conflict and 200,000 more from homicides and suicides…
One group active in pressuring for measures to restrict small arms is the International Action Network on Small Arms. IANSA is a sort of a global network of civil society organizations that are working to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms.
IANSA wants governments to strengthen some of the existing provisions, such as clarifying the responsibilities of states to regulate small arms transfers. It is also pressuring for the adoption of a set of global principles for arms transfers, based on international law, in order to close the legal loopholes exploited by weapons dealers. Ideally this would lead to a legally binding instrument to control arms brokers, wherever they operate.
IANSA prepared a number of position papers for the meeting just concluded in New York. Among the issues addressed was the question of how to regulate the international trade in small arms. The problem is not easy to deal with. Almost half the countries in the world manufacture small arms. And almost every country is involved in the international export, re-export, transit or import of small arms. In addition, the vast majority of countries have insufficient controls on the international transfer of those weapons. **The background paper noted that, alongside the right of states to buy weapons for legitimate self-defense and responsible law enforcement, they also have a responsibility to ensure that transferred small arms are not used to violate international human rights or humanitarian law, or to hamper development. **