PRESS CONFERENCE BY INTERNATIONAL ACTION NETWORK ON SMALL ARMS

The United Nations First Biennial Meeting of States to consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects, had been a success, Rebecca Peters, Director of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), told correspondents at a press conference this afternoon.

Joined by Afi Yakubu, Director of the Foundation for Security and Development in Africa, and Ruben Cesar Fernandes, Director of Viva Rio in Brazil, Ms. Peters added that, although much work still had to be done, addressing small arms and light weapons was now definitely on the agendas of the world’s governments.

Sharing highlights from the meeting, she welcomed the report of the United Nations Group of Experts on tracing, which declared that an international tracing instrument was feasible and desirable.  In that regard, she was encouraged that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were pushing for such an instrument to become legally binding.  She also welcomed the European Union’s statement on brokering, and hoped the views contained in it would be adopted on a global level.  Noting that a number of United Nations agencies had made strong statements on the humanitarian cost of the small arms problem, she concurred that the small arms problem directly damaged human health and community well-being.  In that context, she expressed satisfaction that the link between weapons and welfare had been enshrined in the Meeting’s proceedings.

Turning to challenges ahead, she regretted that, this year, only 80 countries had submitted reports detailing how they were implementing the Programme of Action.  Although the number was an improvement from last year, it still represented less than half the Member States.  Reports needed to be submitted every year, which encouraged governments to continually take action.  Regarding NGOs, she said that, although their importance had been recognized, governments should involve them even more.  She also urged governments to recognize the connections between disarmament, development, and public health.

Ms. Yakubu said that political commitment from the world’s governments would go a long way in saving the 1,200 people who died daily from small arms.  After all, the guns that were being used to shoot at soldiers everyday in Afghanistan and Iraq had obviously come from somewhere.  She wondered if they were coming from official trade between governments.  She also stressed that governments must cooperate with civil society groups, in order to successfully combat the scourge of small arms.

Speaking next, Mr. Fernandes said that, in Brazil, there had been no official war for many years.  Nevertheless, small arms violence was crippling the country.  In Rio, for example, over 14,000 guns had been confiscated by the police.  Acknowledging that small arms were sophisticated industrial products that, for the most part, were legally produced in Brazil, he questioned how a legal activity could lead to such illegal actions.  Also, without the harmonization of gun-related laws among neighbouring countries, the problem could never be addressed properly.  In his region, he confirmed that Brazil often sold arms legally to neighbouring countries, but that Brazilians frequently went to those countries to illegally purchase them.  He regretted that while violence happened quickly, diplomacy proceeded slowly.

Asked how the National Rifle Association (NRA) in the United States had interfered with the goals of the Programme of Action, Ms. Peters said that because of the NRA’s influence over the United States Government in 2001, the Programme of Action was much weaker than it could have been and had ignored many concerns of other governments.  This year, however, the gun lobby, although present, had exerted less influence and had proven itself to be out of touch with global humanitarian concerns.

Mr. Fernandes added that, since Brazil was a gun-producing country, it also had a strong gun lobby that often funded congressional campaigns.  However, over 70 per cent of Brazilians supported strict gun control.  Ms. Yakubu said that, while there was no gun lobby in Ghana, the country’s ethnic groups all had people whose traditional, inherited roles were to protect their communities.  Such people often used guns, nowadays, and it was difficult to convince them to do otherwise.  Additionally, because African governments often did not provide proper security to their citizens, people often guarded their rights to protect themselves with small arms.

Responding to a gender-related question, Ms. Peters said that, as with many United Nations Conferences, most of the delegates were men.  Nevertheless, the IANSA had worked to unite women’s groups, so that they would be well represented and use a common voice to express shared experiences of violence, as well as their attempts to hold families together. 

Mr. Fernandes added that, in Brazil, for every girl killed by small arms, 25 boys died.  Armed violence was thus leading to a demographic imbalance in the country.

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