Of the half a million casualties, approximately 80% are civilians and at least a third were struck down in countries at peace. And yet, no treaty controls the proliferation of small arms.
Over 600 million small arms exist today, and over half are legally owned by civilians. “Small arms” include handguns, pistols, sub-machine guns, mortars, landmines, grenades, and light missiles. Because these require low maintenance, are cheap, easily available, portable, and can easily be concealed, small arms are frequently sold in underground markets, and can even be used by children (witness the case of school shootings in the United States, and children soldiers).
Who makes money in small arms trade?
Arms sales (agreements), ranked by supplier nations (1997 to 2004):
SUPPLIER TOTAL DOLLARS PERCENTAGE
(in million US dollars) (of total world sales)
United States 107,907 40%
Russia 41,765 16%
Other European 31,168 12%
France 26,721 10%
Germany 18,384 7%
Other countries 16,577 6%
United Kingdom 12,991 5%
China 9,001 3%
Italy 4,862 2%
Source:
US Congressional Research Service. 29 August 2005. “The Grimmett Report: Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1997-2004” <http://www.fas.org/asmp/resources/ govern/109th/CRSRL33051.pdf>. Report for Congress, US Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress (Dollar values are constant 2004 dollars). Posted at <www.globalissues.org/geopolitics/ armstrade/BigBusiness.asp>
Big profits in arms
Georgetown University Professor Natalie Goldring points out that activities aiming to control arms distribution should not only focus on supply, but must work on reducing demand as well. In South Africa and Solomon Islands, for example, the demand for arms fell following the promotion of gun-free zones in public areas.
However, statistics show that reducing demand and promoting gun-free zones is not enough when governments themselves profit from arms sales. An Amnesty International research, for example, shows that the G-8 countries (United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia) account for more than 80% of global supplies of arms, valued at about US$28 billion a year.
Civilian victims
Amnesty added that while the rich countries continue to make millions of dollars in profits, it is the residents of poor countries that pay the price. Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone, for example, produce very few arms, but they have been flooded with weapons used to kill thousands of people.
The United States recently tried to convince the European Union to refrain from selling arms to China, saying that it would send the wrong message about human rights and endanger regional stability. However, the US does the same thing and has submitted a proposal to the Senate to ship US$300 million worth of weapons to Pakistan, a known human rights violator. A report by the World Policy Institute (2005) showed that twenty of the top 25 US arms clients in the developing world were either undemocratic regimes or governments with records of human rights abuses.
“No one but a criminal would knowingly sell a gun to a murderer, yet governments sell weapons to regimes with a history of human rights violations,” says Barbara Stocking, director of Oxfam International. The organisation is part of the Control Arms Campaign, an umbrella group representing various organisations demanding that governments agree on a proposed treaty that would ban the illegal trade in guns.
Recognition of the problem
Civilian motives in purchasing small arms must likewise be addressed. Unarmed, do they feel safe in the streets? Can they trust their enforcement agencies to protect them? Over 60% of the population in Brazil, for instance, voted “No” to banning the sale of guns.
"We will keep fighting to prevent gun deaths," says Jessica Galeria of the non-government organisation (NGO) Viva Rio, a member of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) that campaigned for the gun ban. “Most Brazilians do not own guns and do not believe guns make a household safer. But the ‘No’ campaign exploited people’s fears: that police cannot protect them; that the government was trying to take away their ‘rights.’”
In 2001, the United Nations adopted a programme to “prevent, combat, and eradicate illicit trade in small arms and weapons,” a big achievement in NGO efforts to raise the issue of arms proliferation to a global level. The UN is holding a two-week meeting in January this year, in preparation for the Review Conference on Small Arms in July, an opportunity to continue the UN process, and produce concrete results over the next five-year period.
As Stocking says, "This year, the world has a choice. Either it continues to ignore the massive human cost or it finally acts to control the arms trade."
Sources:
Deen, Thalif. 11 January 2006. “Are small arms the real wmd?” Posted by the Inter Press Service (IPS) News Agency at <http://ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=31738>.
_____. 17 January 2006. “Nations urged to create gun-free zone.” Posted by the (IPS) News Agency at <http://ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=31807>.
International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). 24 October 2005. "Brazil gun referendum defeated: A lost opportunity for victims of gun violence." Posted by IANSA at <http://www.iansa.org/regions/samerica/brazil-pr241005.htm>.
Rizvi, Haider. 11 January 2006. “International gun trade targeted at UN” Posted by OneWorld.net at <http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0111-05.htm>.
Shah, Anup. 21 January 2006. “Small arms cause 90% of civilian casualties.” Posted at <www.globalissues.org/geopolitics/armstrade/SmallArms.asp>.
_____. 21 January 2006. “The arms trade is big business.” Posted at <www.globalissues.org/geopolitics/armstrade/BigBusiness.asp>.
Volk, Joe. “Selling arms to China: Profits before principles.” Posted at <http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1244&issue_id=103>.
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