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ChangeMaker
against Proliferation of Small Arms ...
Control Arms:
The proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons is
endangering personal security, undermining good governance,
contributing to violations of human rights, and undermining
social justice, development, and peace in all parts of the
world.
Small arms are used for killing a large number of people each
year and for every death many more are injured and traumatized
and leave behind helpless families and dependents. These
casualties occur in the context of national, sub-national, and
regional conflicts, the repression of democratic rights and
violations of the right to self-determination. The easy
availability of small arms is also linked to high levels of
violent crime, domestic assaults, suicides, and accidents. While
data on the total mortality and injury caused by small arms in
conflict zones is incomplete, research shows that even after
conflict has ceased, death rates stay high if weapons remain in
circulation.
Small arms do not in themselves cause violence but they play a
critical role in transforming social and political conflicts and
making them much more violent. Whether the context is crime,
human rights abuse, political conflict, domestic assault or
suicide, the availability of small arms intensifies conflict and
hastens its escalation to deadly violence. Criminals and other
abusive forces employ small arms as primary tools of coercion.
The use of small arms increases the number of victims and makes
it easier for children to become killers. The victims of small
arms violence often include the most vulnerable sectors of
society: women, children, people with disabilities and the poor.
Women, for example, account for a substantial proportion of the
victims of small arms but only a small fraction of the users of
these weapons. Small arms also fuel fear and instability, which
has led to the creation of millions of refugees and internally
displaced persons. Controlling the access to and availability of
small arms could prevent many of these human-made tragedies -
domestically and internationally - within the broader framework
of measures to tackle the root causes of conflict.
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ChangeMaker recognize that the trade and diffusion of small arms
is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, touching all levels of
society in all parts of the world. Research suggests that small
arms that fall into the wrong hands originate from many sources.
There are complex interactions between the public and the
private, the state and the civilian, the licit and the illicit,
the national and the international. Since the end of the cold
war, the nature of conflict has changed and the sources of small
arms as well as channels for the diversion of licit and illicit
small arms have expanded dramatically.
While there are some parallels and links between the illicit
trade in drugs and that in small arms, many important
differences exist. Most small arms begin as legal commodities
whether sold to states or directly to civilians. Because they
are durable, they are often sold and resold many times, creating
a range of opportunities for diversion from legal to illegal
markets. Illicit arms traffickers respond to demand and will
supply weapons to anyone who can afford them, whether they are
combatants in civil war or criminal gangs in the inner city.
Consequently it is difficult to separate the small arms which
fuel "conflict" from the small arms that fuel "crime". Indeed in
some regions conflict and crime are inseparable. Because illicit
markets are fuelled by diversion of small arms from licit
markets through a variety of means - illegal sales, thefts,
straw purchases, uncontrolled secondary markets and brokering -
a comprehensive strategy to combat the illicit trade in small
arms in all its aspects must not ignore licit markets. In
addition, some elements of the legal trade in small arms may be
contrary to existing international law, which was recognized by
the UN Group of Governmental Experts on Small Arms in their 1999
report.
Small arms are now the principal weapons in most conflicts
worldwide. Countries or regions which are experiencing armed
conflict suffer when influxes of small arms serve to prolong
these conflicts and increase their violent impact on combatants
and citizens alike. In Bangladesh, small arms fuel criminal
violence, which has been called "the greatest threat to human
rights" facing the young democracy. Small arms also impeded
economic development and divert resources.
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