PRESS CONFERENCE ON SMALL ARMS

Members of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) expressed strong concern this afternoon over links between legal and illegal arms flows as they addressed a Headquarters press conference sponsored by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).  IANSA, a global network of 320 non-governmental organizations and faith-based groups from 70 countries, was formed in 1998.

Antonio Rangel Bandeira, head of disarmament projects for Viva Rio (Brazil), told correspondents that while his country was not officially at war, 40,000 Brazilians were killed by firearms every year.  An average of eight youths died every day in Rio de Janeiro.  Research by Viva Rio had found most of the guns seized by Rio police were Brazilian-made, while a large proportion came from the United States and Europe, entering Brazil through Paraguay.

With the help of Interpol, he added, it had been found that guns made in the United States continued to be exported to Paraguay, despite a 1996 State Department prohibition on export licensing of small arms.  In addition, small arms and ammunition continued to be transferred, despite a European Code of Conduct, from Germany, Spain, Italy and Austria through Paraguay to organized crime in the Southern Common Market area comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Bolivia.  The Paraguay connection was a clear example of small arms being diverted from legal to illegal markets, feeding urban violence in big cities like Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and Rio.

Confiscated guns in Brazil had come either through Paraguay, from private security firms or from domestic arms dealers, he said.  The current draft of the United Nations programme of action did not address any of those issues.  The problems of brokering, transparency and State accountability had all been worryingly underplayed.  There was a risk of focusing too much on generic and technical measures that would not affect the lives of Latin Americans who were dying in a silent civil war, he warned.

Mereso Agina, National Secretary of Maendeleo ya Wanawake (Kenya) and Coordinator of the Kenyan Coalition against Landmines, described how pastoral communities in the north of her country were acquiring guns to defend themselves against armed livestock raiders from rival clans or communities.  In raids and counter-raids, women and children were raped or abducted.  The violence had caused her organization to turn from helping to improve the lot of women to considering their security concerns, she said.

The weapons used in northern Kenya were easily available from war-ravaged neighbouring countries, she continued.  They were rapidly moving into the towns where criminals were increasingly able to acquire them.  While the United Nations had the opportunity to make a real difference in preventing the misuse of small arms, some governments appeared unwilling to take reasonable steps that would help stop the death and destruction.  The focus on the supply aspect missed the critical mass of people affected by the small arms, she added.

Salpy Eskidjian, Director of Peacebuilding and Disarmament for the World Council of Churches, expressed the hope that the final conference document would

launch legally-binding negotiations on controlling arms brokering -- so central to the violation of United Nations arms embargoes -- transparency in authorized exports, marking and tracing.  The current document did not go far enough, she said.  It could and should be strengthened in order to save lives.

Path Heang, Monitoring and Information Officer for the Working Group for Weapons Reduction (Cambodia), citing a 1998 survey conducted by the municipality of Pnomh Penh, said that at least two thirds of city households had illegal weapons.  That amounted to at least 1 million unregistered weapons in the hands of the general population.  Another 1998 study had revealed that guns and ammunition were cheaply available all over Cambodia through networks of relatives, friends and members of the armed forces.

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