Why Do We Need Small Arms?
blurb:isstoday:07042008smallarms
07 April 2008: Why Do We Need Small Arms?
Significant international and regional initiatives have been developed in the last decade aimed at curbing and controlling the proliferation and reducing the misuse of small arms and light weapons (SALW).
The recent post-election violence in Kenya however again emphasized the limitations of addressing the proliferation of small arms and light weapons without addressing the origins of conflicts.
The initiatives on SALW proliferation have sought to provide states with recommendations on strengthening laws and policies in the areas of importing and exporting firearms, the civilian ownership of firearms, the management of state stockpiles of SALW, and the collection and destruction of surplus and illicit SALW.
The Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa made significant progress in establishing a framework for controlling the proliferation of SALW when in 2004, states in the region signed the legally binding Nairobi Protocol, which came into force in 2006. The protocol and the subsequent set of best practice guidelines developed in 2005 to inform its implementation have been showcased as an example for the rest of the continent.
In order to assist and support the implementation of the protocol, the Regional Centre on Small Arms and Light Weapons (RECSA) was established in
2005 and has subsequently been involved in running workshops and working with member states to develop national action plans to implement the provisions of the protocol.
Although the protocol and ensuing regional activities relating to its implementation are commendable, the protocol fails to identify, acknowledge and provide recommendations to address the root causes of conflicts, and by implication the demand for SALW, in the region. Although the Nairobi Protocol is used to illustrate this point, the same can be said for many other regional and international agreements aimed at addressing the proliferation of SALW.
Despite acknowledging ³that the problem of small arms and light weapons in the region has been exacerbated by political strife, terrorist activities and extreme poverty², the protocol makes no mention of addressing the demand for these weapons or the root causes of armed conflicts, which for the most part are a result of socio-economic factors.
Furthermore, the acknowledgment that a comprehensive strategy is needed to arrest and deal with the problem of illicit SALW proliferation and misuse by putting in place structures and processes for promoting democracy, good governance, the protection of human rights and economic growth greatly underestimates the importance of focussing on the reasons why people are arming themselves.
Kenya is one of the three countries to have developed a national action plan to implement the provisions of the Nairobi Protocol and is in the process of implementing this plan.
During the period of violence following the recent election, acts of violence were mostly committed with machetes and other traditional weapons, such as bows and arrows. There were however informal reports that certain parties attempted to secure illicit small arms from Somalia.
Though SALW have the potential to exacerbate, intensify and perhaps even prolong conflicts, they typically do not cause them. Therefore seeking to address their proliferation, as a means to reduce conflict and promote stability in a region will remain ineffective in promoting sustainable peace and human security, given that weapons other than firearms can be used to carry out acts of violence, as was recently seen in Kenya.
It is not surprising that governments are focussing on arms control as a means to reduce the occurrence of armed conflicts, as opposed to addressing the demand-side for firearms, given that it is far less daunting than addressing the origins of conflicts. It is far easier for governments to reduce the number of firearms in their countries than it is to address the socio-economic and political issues that give rise to these hostilities, such as the absence of good governance, or the lack of access to water and pastoral land.
Although strengthening controls over SALW is one way of reducing the intensity of conflicts, it cannot entirely resolve them. This needs to be done by tackling the problem of SALW proliferation within a framework that acknowledges and addresses the demand-side of small arms and light weapons proliferation.
Dominique Dye, Junior Researcher, Arms Management Programme, ISS Tshwane (Pretoria)
