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Understanding the AK-47 and M-16: small arms and development

At least half a million people are killed every year by small arms. What is the link between the rapid increase in these illicit weapons and prospects of meeting development targets? Does the development community understand the complex interrelationships between armed conflict and social violence and between small arms and development?

A UNDP report assesses the costs of the availability and misuse of small arms. Highlighting the inadequacies of current approaches to weapons regulation and decommissioning, it calls for more sustained support to assist developing states engulfed with weaponry. It also suggests ways of working with civil society to implement effective arms reduction projects and ways of generating indicators and instruments to measure their impacts on human development.

Small arms – including handguns, semi-automatic and automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers – are cheap, portable and readily available. They are frequently the weapon of choice in gang violence, organised crime, civil wars and inter-state conflict. There are believed to be some 640 million such weapons in circulation. They are very durable: recycled AK-47s and M-16s used in the Vietnam War have resurfaced as far afield as Nicaragua and El Salvador some 30 years later. Though small arms are manufactured in over 95 countries, the annual legal trade is comparatively modest, estimated at some US $4-6 billion a year.

The indirect impacts of small arms on development includes:

targeting of health and education workers and difficulties in accessing clinics and schools: in the conflict-wracked Mindanao region of the Philippines, child mortality is almost double the national rate
forced displacement: firearm-related insecurity is a significant factor influencing decisions on whether to flee or migrate
in areas awash with guns, trade and agriculture decline: insecurity leads to the costly privatisation of security – now a global industry worth nearly US $100 billion a year
declines in state revenue and in domestic savings lead to general decline in economic activity
social capital is eroded by guns: thus in Kenya customary institutions among pastoralists have been eroded by the prevailing gun culture
denial of development assistance to conflict zones as aid agencies withdraw personnel on security grounds.

Attempts to reduce the supply of these weapons to war-affected countries through sanctions have generally been unsuccessful. Moreover, while small arms collection and destruction projects are seen as an important ingredient of peace missions, they do not address the core question – why do so many people have guns in the first place? This question is especially important because the evidence suggests that small arms remaining in circulation after ‘disarmament’ initiatives have finished have caused several apparently resolved conflicts to re-ignite.

The UNDP argues that removing small arms from conflicts or potential conflict situations can save lives and promote development. A preventive approach should focus on both the sources of supply and the reasons why people possess them – the so-called demand factors. There is a growing consensus that it is a lack of opportunity, perceived injustice and inequality that compels many young men to take up arms. Initiatives to reduce the proliferation of small arms must therefore address the root causes of conflict by building confidence and trust and working with communities.

The UNDP calls for greater efforts to:

involve civil society in weapons collection programmes and in challenging existing perceptions about the desirability of possessing guns
ensure that demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration programmes work with ex-combatants to reduce the risk that they might subsequently use weapons for criminal purposes
highlight weapons-development linkages in annual reports of key international agencies
further raise awareness by commissioning civil society organisations to prepare country-focused studies on the impact of small arms.

Source(s):
‘Development held hostage: assessing the effects of small arms on human development: a preliminary study of the socio-economic impacts and development linkages of small arms proliferation, availability and use’, United Nations Development Programme, by Robert Muggah and Peter Batchelor, April 2002 Full document.

Funded by: United Nations Development Programme

id21 Research Highlight: 1 July 2003

Further Information:
Robert Muggah
Small Arms Survey
Graduate Institute of International Studies
Avenue Blanc 47
1202 Geneva
Switzerland

Tel: +41 (0)22 908 5777
Fax: +41 (0)22 732 2738
Contact the contributor: muggah@hei.unige.ch

Small Arms Survey, Geneva

Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR)
UNDP
One United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
USA

Tel: +1 (0)212 906 6376
Fax: +1 (0)212 906 6887
Contact the contributor: bcpr@undp.org

Crime Prevention and Recovery, UNDP

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