Humanitarianism under threat - the impact of small arms and light weapons

Of the more than 150 major conflicts since the Second World War, 130 have been fought in developing countries. Today's mainly intra-state, low intensity, violent political conflicts are on the increase. Small arms and light weapons are the principal weapons used in conflict situations. But what is their humanitarian cost? And what affect does this have on sustainable development?

Small arms include revolvers, pistols, rifles and light machine guns; light weapons include heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, small mortars and explosives. A recent report commissioned by the UN’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee, and carried out by the Small Arms Survey, assesses the humanitarian impacts of small arms and light weapons on civilian populations and humanitarian and development agencies. Proposing a new conceptual framework to explore the issue, the report provides a range of recommendations to assist in advocacy and further evaluation.

In conflict and post-conflict situations, most civilians are killed and injured by small arms and light weapons. Many more are killed as a result of the secondary costs attributable to armed violence. This report seeks to measure the threats that unregulated access to small arms and light weapons pose to civil populations and relief and development agencies. Also considered are the enduring social and economic consequences of armed violence - particularly in relation to how they undermine sustainable development.

Findings are drawn from case studies in Colombia, Kenya and East Timor. Research findings include:

• People are directly affected by small arms use before, during, and after conflict: small arms used in wars kill over 300,000 people a year and injure three times as many.
• All manner of weapons are being used in situations of conflict, crime and systematic insecurity. The virulence of conflict and violence increases with the introduction of new technology.
• The impacts of small arms extend beyond the bullet. Small arms availability and use have a broad range of secondary impacts - from forced migration to the collapse of household entitlements and access to basic needs.
• At the macro-level, unregulated small arms availability undermines social and economic development. Firearms-related insecurity can shape the allocation of budgetary resources among and between government departments.
• At the micro-level, the use of small arms and threat of firearms-related insecurity affects labour, production, and inheritance entitlements of individuals.
• Humanitarian and development agencies are exposed to, made vulnerable, and obstructed in their work, by unprecedented small arms availability and use.

Policy recommendations include:

• Advocacy on small arms control should seek to ensure that the short and long-term human costs of their availability and use are central to the discussion.
• Country-specific studies that appraise the relationships between fire-arm-related insecurity and development should be undertaken to inform the priorities of campaigners and donors.
• Government, field agency and non-governmental organisation representatives should be sensitised to the importance of collecting data and reporting on small-arms-related impacts.
• United Nations bodies should support a logistical transparency and oversight regime to ensure that relief and development-aid infrastructure is not used (directly or indirectly) to facilitate arms proliferation or purchasing.
• Given that small arms proliferation and possession cannot be singularly regulated by supply-side controls, humanitarian and development agencies should consider alternative approaches to arms controls that focus on reducing the demand for firearms.

Source(s):
‘Humanitarianism Under Threat: The Humanitarian Impacts of Small Arms and Light Weapons', Report prepared for the Reference Group on Small Arms of the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee, by Robert Muggah and Eric Berman, March 2001 Full document.
Small Arms Publications from the UNDP Full document.

Funded by: UNDP, UNHCR, OCHA and UNICEF

id21 Research Highlight: 21 November 2001

Further Information:
Robert Muggah
Graduate Institute of International Studies
Small Arms Survey
Geneva
Switzerland

Contact the contributor: muggah@hei.unige.ch

Small Arms Survey, Geneva

Other related links:
The International Action Network on Small Arms provides further information

Read about the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons

UNDP focuses on Small Arms

The United Nations feautures several publications on this issue

WHO also concentrate on small arms and light weapons

See also the Dag Hammerskjöld Library's related publications