Volume 15 Number 2
Firearms result in hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of injuries worldwide each year, with guns being responsible for between 60 and 90 per cent of all deaths during armed conflicts. In late March 2006 the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), in collaboration with the International Physicians Against Nuclear War (IPPNW) and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), hosted a conference titled: Driving Change: Firearms Policy for Safer Societies in Durban, South Africa. This conference was linked to the 8th World Injury Prevention Conference, which took place at the same venue.
The aim of the conference was to examine how accurate and relevant data can assist stakeholders to develop intervention strategies and policies geared towards the prevention and reduction of firearm-related deaths and injuries, and to explore ways in which the social, political and economic environment inhibits or facilitates the effective implementation of policy relating to firearms violence reduction and prevention. Sixty experts from the public health, development, humanitarian, law enforcement, criminal justice, and arms control communities from more than 15 countries were in attendance. This issue of the African Security Review presents a sample of the papers that were presented at this conference.
During the course of this conference it became evident that the public health sector can play a vital role in the prevention of firearms violence. The reason for this is that public health practitioners see the first hand effects of firearms violence, and are generally required to employ scarce resource to address the devastating consequences of gun shot injuries. As a result of this, public health practitioners have become leaders in the global campaign against firearms proliferation and misuse.
Africa is arguably the continent that is the most afflicted by the misuse and proliferation of firearms. However, publicly available (and reliable) datasets on firearm injuries and deaths in most African countries are not readily available. Hence, with some exceptions, such as South Africa and Kenya, meaningful research and analysis of this problem in Africa has been exceedingly limited. Even though there is a dearth of relevant data in the majority of those African countries affected by firearms violence, governments are obligated to proactively address the deaths of their citizens. Problems related to firearms are a global phenomenon, and international experiences and data can better inform African interventions. As such, drawing on the experience of those countries outside of Africa, where research on firearms violence has been undertaken, African governments in collaboration with civil society organisations may be able to devise strategies and programmes to reduce firearms injuries and deaths.
The case studies presented in this issue of the African Security Review are as follows: Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and South Africa. Firearms violence either was or continues to be extensive in these countries, and the authorities have, with varying degrees of success, designed and implemented measures aimed at reducing firearm injuries and deaths in a sustainable fashion.
A myriad of small arms control and disarmament strategies have been implemented in Africa at the national, sub-regional and regional levels. These control measures have generally been guided by a combination of international and regional small arms agreements. The most prominent have been the Bamako Declaration (2000), which represents a common African position on the trafficking and proliferation of illicit small arms, and the UN Programme of Action (UNPoA) on the illicit use, trade and proliferation of small arms (2001). The UNPoA is the world’s first agreement on controlling the proliferation of small arms. Arms control agreements have also been negotiated at the sub-regional level, usually through regional economic communities, such as the Southern African Development Community and the Economic Community of West African States.
The UNPoA and other arms control and disarmament agreements have provided some impetus for many African governments to review, and where necessary amend, their national small arms control legislation and policy. Consequently, this issue of the African Security Review provides commentary and analysis on the dynamics and processes of negotiating and implementing international firearms control agreements, both from an African and non-African perspective.
The editors trust that policy-makers, researchers and health practitioners will find this publication useful and insightful with respect to their efforts to combat the devastating effects of firearms proliferation and misuse.
