Holding up development: The effects of small arms and light weapons in developing countries

Cheap, portable and readily available: every year more than half a million people are killed through the misuse of small arms such as handguns, assault rifles and grenades. Millions more are crippled. With poverty providing an ideal breeding ground for small arms proliferation, African countries are currently the worst hit by a global epidemic of armed violence which threatens the safety and well being of people in developed and developing countries alike.

The human costs of small arms misuse have social and economic consequences also – affecting the opportunities and productivity of poor communities further still. From Latin America and the Caribbean to sub-saharan Africa, South and South East Asia, research has shown how scarce household resources are being devoted to the treatment and care of the victims of violence, as well as to informal and unregulated forms of security – such as para-militarism and vigilantism. Small arms misuse is also strongly associated with the increasing lethality of criminality, forced migration, the deterioration of investment and trade and the obstruction of aid delivery and assistance. Both directly and indirectly then, small arms misuse undermines the quality and quantity of development in poor countries.

Just as poverty and violence are intertwined, so too must be their effective remedies. Research has shown that investments in improving public security – from the strengthening of community policing in Malawi to investments in better lighting and communications infrastructure in districts of Albania – are strongly correlated with reductions in violence and poverty. But the development community has yet to fully wake up to the wide-ranging effects of small arms. The issue is often treated as somebody else’s problem, as too big and complex and therefore not amenable to a developmental response.

Fortunately, innovative and proactive approaches to the issue are emerging from the affected communities themselves. Research has revealed for example that local Kosovo-Albanian and Serb communities are less attached to their weapons than commonly believed, and that many civilians recognise the importance of reducing the number of arms in their community in order for trust to take hold, and development to flourish.

Such findings challenge the popular assumption that once arms become embedded within a culture they cannot be removed. To the contrary, many communities eagerly participate in measures to reduce the threat of violence and the misuse of small arms. The International Action Network on Small Arms has documented a vast array of community-led efforts that often escape the headlines: from anti-weapons campaigns in Rio de Janeiro to gun-free zones in Johannesburg.

What is needed now is more concentrated investment in these efforts from the international development community. Small arms control should no longer be confined to a narrow group of experts in the disarmament sector or conceived purely as a “soft” or low-priority security issue. Instead, it should be re-positioned as one of many central pillars of the security and development agendas of the international community and affected states.

Whilst international and national agencies have begun to recognise weapon trafficking and small arms control as a development issue, converting noble aspirations into action presents a number of challenges.  Firstly, many of the on going efforts to reduce small arms misuse focus too simplistically on the supply of arms alone, ignoring reasons for their demand, or the effects they have on communities. To be effective, these efforts need to complement their top-down control of arms supplies with increased involvement from affected communities in the design, implementation and monitoring of strategies to reduce armed violence.

Secondly, there are still many governments, and thus development aid departments that are politically adverse to recognising small arms control as a development issue. A number of these are reluctant to regulate civilian possession or restrain local markets in small arms. Alarmingly, some development agencies also still require convincing of the importance of the issue in relation to their mainstream activities. The World Bank, for example, supports demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programmes to reduce armed violence in war-torn areas, and has recently called for the DDR of over 350 000 ex-combatants in nine countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa alone. Yet the World Bank’s own Operational Policy (2.30) insists that no funds be devoted to the first 'D' of 'DDR' - disarmament - nor to small arms control. That the World Bank is unable to directly support disarmament is paradoxical and threatens to undermine the success of the regional initiative.

Thirdly, the UN Programme of Action to Combat the Illicit Trafficking of Small Arms was drawn up in July 2001, and makes passing reference to the importance of curbing small arms availability and misuse in relation to development. Whilst the programme is a start, many member states, and particular those in Africa, were disappointed at the United States’ insistence on focusing the matter only on illegal and not legal trade in small arms, and its refusal to endorse a programme which placed restrictions on supplying non-state actors with arms, or prohibiting civilian possession.

Finally, it is vital that NGOs, UN agencies and interested parties articulate relevant campaigning goals that are easily communicated to the public and politicians and translatable into policy objectives for donors and affected countries. Given the far-reaching consequences of small arms misuse on development, aid targeted at small arms reduction represents a cost-effective investment. But the real test is for the development community to think creatively about how to successfully and sustainably “roll” small arms reduction into current and future poverty-reduction priorities.

Freedom from fear and the promotion of safety and security are indisputable preconditions for human development. Though the development sector faces a host of competing priorities, its proponents should recall that the reduction and destruction of small arms can play a significant role in advancing greater security and development for all.

Source(s):
This is a special id21 feature to mark the first UN Biennial Meeting of States to discuss the UN’s programme of action on small arms and light weapons, July 7-11, 2003 Full document.
The United Nations First Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons, New York, 7-11 july 2003 Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 3 July 2003

Further Information:
Robert Muggah
Small Arms Survey
Ground Floor
Avenue Blanc 47
CH-1202 Geneva
Switzerland

Tel: + 41 (0) 22 908 5782
Contact the contributor: Muggah@hei.unige.ch

Small Arms Survey, Geneva

Other related links:
'Understanding the AK-47 and M-16: small arms and development'

More research from the Small Arms Survey occasional paper series

Malawi Security Sector Reform project report

UNDP Small arms and light weapons control programme in Albania

DFID briefing on UK Small Arms and Light Weapons

See the World Bank Multi-Regional Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme

More from the International Action Network on Small Arms