Development & Aid, Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean, Population

DISARMAMENT: Fighting the Global Scourge of Small Arms and Light Weapons

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 27 2005 (IPS) - The real weapons of mass destruction are small arms and light weapons, which kill half a million people around the world every year, according to the international movement pushing for greater control over the trade in these instruments of death.

The unchecked proliferation of pistols, revolvers, assault rifles, grenades, machine guns and similar weapons has had drastic consequences for health and public security, human rights and even the economy. In some countries, like Brazil, Colombia and El Salvador, it is estimated that gun-related violence leads to economic losses of more than 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

To combat this global scourge, the United Nations organised a conference in July 2001 which adopted the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.

The Programme of Actions calls on the world’s nations to control the production and sales of these weapons, mark guns at the point of manufacture for identification and tracing, make illicit gun production and possession criminal offences, identify and destroy stocks of surplus weapons, and issue end-user certificates for exports and transit, among other measures.

Some advances have been made since the 2001 conference, particularly in terms of national legislation, but the general recommendations established still need to be developed in greater detail, said Pablo Dreyfus, an Argentine political scientist and coordinator of firearms research for Viva Rio, a non-governmental group based in Rio de Janeiro.

Next year, the Programme of Action will be reviewed at another world conference. An informal Consultative Group, created in 2003 and comprising representatives of roughly 30 national governments, in addition to international organisations and civil society groups, is working towards jointly developing proposals to submit to the U.N. conference.

At its fifth meeting, held Monday and Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro, the Consultative Group discussed a list of 16 guidelines and factors to be considered in the international trade of small arms and light weapons.

The U.N. defines small arms as weapons designed for personal use, such as revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles, sub-machine guns, assault rifles and light machine guns.

Light weapons are designed for use by several persons serving as a crew, and include heavy machine guns, mortars, hand grenades, grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns and portable missile launchers.

The central concern is how to keep these weapons out of the hands of unauthorised, non-state actors, in other words, out of the illegal or informal market, Dreyfus told IPS.

Debate currently focuses on two options: a complete ban on supplying weapons to these actors, or the toleration of their provision in certain situations.

Struggles for independence or those waged by "an oppressed people, facing genocide," could be considered exceptional cases that would justify access to weapons for the civilian population, without government authorisation, Dreyfus noted.

As of yet, there is still no consensus on this proposal, while many states are not prepared to implement a blanket ban, he observed.

What has become clear is that strong national laws contribute considerably to controlling international weapons trafficking.

This has been demonstrated by Brazil, which adopted the so-called Disarmament Statute in 2003, "one of the best laws of its kind worldwide," which classifies the illicit trade in arms as a criminal offence, with correspondingly harsh sanctions, places restrictions on gun possession, and calls for the marking of not only every weapon produced, but all ammunition as well, Dreyfus said.

These measures make it difficult for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) – that country’s largest leftist rebel group – to use Brazilian-produced ammunition, since its origin can be easily traced, for example.

In the meantime, however, Brazil faces the problem of weapons smuggled in from Bolivia and Uruguay, which according to Dreyfus have "weak laws." In the case of Bolivia, the situation is made even worse by the current political instability and the lack of effective state control, he added.

He believes that what is needed is the harmonisation of laws across South America, which would imply extending the efforts already underway in the countries of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), namely Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Paraguay has also considerably improved its legislation, possibly as a result of the U.N. Programme of Action, but its government still needs to deal with the corruption that serves to limit state control, he said.

But while Brazil deserves to be applauded for its disarmament law and the campaign that has resulted in the collection of over 300,000 small arms and light weapons within the country since 2004, its performance in terms of international trade is not so commendable, given the government’s failure to control arms exports, said Antonio Rangel Bandeira, a Brazilian sociologist and coordinator of the Viva Rio Disarmament Project.

The U.N. recommends that weapons not be sold to dictatorships, countries at war, or countries that will re-export them. But Brazil exported arms to Iraq while it was ruled by Saddam Hussein (1979-2003) as well as to Angola during the civil war there. It also continues to sell weapons to Paraguay, which subsequently make their way back into Brazil illegally, said Rangel Bandeira.

Exporting as many arms as possible is "faulty pragmatism", argued Rangel, considering the "boomerang effect" through which exported guns later fall into the hands of criminals in Brazil. Despite the progress made in terms of legislation, this has still not translated into effective control of both domestic and foreign sales of weapons.

Brazilian-made pistols used by the Colombian guerrilla forces have been found in Brazil itself, while research by Viva Rio reveals that many of the guns seized from drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro had been exported to Paraguay.

There is also insufficient control of the transportation of weapons shipments, the source of the greatest diversion of "false exports" to the domestic market.

Moreover, the Disarmament Statute runs the risk of losing its effectiveness if the Brazilian Congress fails to finalise the procedures to be followed in the referendum scheduled for this October, which would ratify the end of domestic gun sales and make it illegal for individuals to carry weapons unless it is for work-related purposes.

Rangel Bandeira noted that the world is divided into the major weapons exporters, like China, the United States, Israel and Russia, who oppose greater control of the international arms trade because of the losses it will entail for them, and the "victims" who suffer the consequences of armed violence.

However, Brazil falls under both categories, he said.

But fortunately, he added, there are countries that are "responsible exporters," like the Scandinavian nations, Canada and Britain, which have allied themselves with the victims and the movement against the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.