global crisis 07

8/8/2019 Global Crisis 07

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International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4LT, UK T: +44 20 7065 0870 F: +44 20 7065 0871 E: [email protected] W: www.iansa

1000die every day

Gun Violence: The Global Crisis

campaigning or ewer guns and saer communitie



International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4LT, UK

Sweden3232 4545

Norway4242 2121

UK 8484 7171

France121121 3636

Spain5959 5555

Austria2929 174174

Portugal4040 1616

Italy7777 390390

Belgium3939 102102

Switzerland3333 6969

Germany

147147 307307

Finland1616 3838

Tur2020

Czech

Republic88 5151

Netherlands102102 3737

Bosnia-Herzegovina

22 1111

Croatia22 1818

Denmark 2727 ??

Greece2121 22

Poland1717 66

Serbia &Montenegro

?? 2929

Map showingimporters and exporters2004 small arms transers

Canada8181 9191

USA732732 618618 Key

Imports - 2004 fgures, in US $ millionsImports - 2004 fgures, in US $ millionsExports - 2004 fgures, in US $ millionsExports - 2004 fgures, in US $ millions?Data not available

*Less than USD $0.5 million

Source: Small Arms Survey Yearbook 2007, Guns and the City .Data supplemented by UN Comtrade database, accessed October 2007.

Brazil22 112112

E11

Colombia1919 **

Mexico1212 1616

Guns: acts and fgures

Why guns?I 1000 people a day were dying rom a globalepidemic o bird u, the world would sit upand take notice. But the numbers aren’t being joined up: a high school massacre in the UnitedStates is seen as totally unrelated to a suicide inFinland, gang warare in Brazil or armed rape inSudan. The common denominator in all thesecases is the type o weapon involved.

Guns may not be the root cause o violence,but they multiply it dramatically. Poverty,unemployment, injustice, rustration, ear, jealousyor depression can kindle the spark o violence;adding guns to such a volatile environment islike throwing petrol onto a fre.

When guns replace fsts – or knives – the outcomeis ar more likely to result in death. So a mundanecase o road rage turns into a homicide. An alcohol-uelled argument leaves behind a corpse. Facedwith the breakdown o personal relationships, suchas an act o infdelity, a gun can turn a moment o blinding anger into a lietime o regret. A dispute

between neighbouring communities can eruptinto a war once the frst shots ring out.

The power to transorm tension or anxiety intotragedy in an instant is a design characteristic o small arms. Guns are designed or the purposeo killing. Gunshot wounds are particularly severecompared with other injuries, because o theextensive damage to surrounding tissue. Guns,unlike knives, can kill at a distance, whether bydirect aim or by a stray bullet. The presence o a gun also reduces the likelihood o bystandersintervening to assist the victim or to paciy theassailant.

A thousand people dieevery day by gunshots,and three times as many are severelyinjured. Spinal cords severed, bones

shattered, amilies destroyed,hearts broken. I the death, injuryand disability resulting rom smallarms were categorised as a disease,we would view it as an epidemic. Asa man-made vector o injury, gunsare maniestly bad or human health.

No country is immune

An assault with afrearm is 12 times morelikely to prove atal than anassault by other means. Themere presence o a guncreates a mortal danger: a2003 study conducted in theUS showed that keeping a gunin the home increases the risk o somebody in the household dying– whether by homicide, suicide oraccident – by 41%.

Guns can have a unctional lietimeo many decades, during which timethey may move several times betweenowners and uses. Surplus militaryweapons fnd a market in a conict-torndeveloping country. A household handgunbecomes a crime weapon when a burglar stealsit rom the house. Arms supplied in good aith bya democratic government to ‘reedom fghters’overseas are used against its own troops yearslater. A ather’s hunting rie is used by his teenageson to commit suicide. A small arm is equallydeadly in the hands o a riend or an enemy, acivilian or a soldier.

Borders are porous and guns – particularly handgu– are by nature extremely portable and concealable.short, they are a smuggler’s dream and a law enorceme

nightmare. Some guns are small enough to bhidden in a pocket and can be carried by a chas young as seven.

It is this combination o lethality and longevthat makes small arms such an e cient vecto the violence epidemic. To reduce the toll death and injury we must bring the ood guns under control.



T: +44 20 7065 0870 F: +44 20 7065 0871 E: [email protected] W: www.iansa© IANSA 2007

Australia4343 99

Japan60608383

China11 100100

Russia2424 442442

SouthKorea

74742525

Bangladesh2020 **

NewZealand1111 22

India11 11

Indonesia2424 ??

ran2 1414

Singapore4343 **

ited Arabmirates1313 ??

Thailand99 3535

Guns: acts and fgures

Who owns the guns and who sufers?Guns are closely associated with police and military orces in thepublic imagination. However, o the 875 million guns circulating onthe planet today, 74% are owned by non-state actors or civilians. This means that weapons in private hands outnumber governmentarsenals by 3 to 1 (see diagram below right).

Just as the majority o gun owners are civilians, sotoo are the majority o gun victims.O the estimated 1000deaths by gunshot eachday, around 250 occur in awar or armed conict. Theremainder are homicides(56%), suicides (14%) andunintentional gun deaths(5%). Nine out o every 10people shot dead are boysor young men.

Gun homicide rates by country

Three women survivorswith a photograph o their murdered malerelative in Haiti. Men

overwhelmingly account or the

majority o frearmdeaths; a huge psychological and fnancial

burden allsupon the

women let behind.

Photograph:Martin Adler

74%o guns are in civilian handsincluding security guards

Source: WHO, UN O ce o Drugs and Crime(UNODC) or most recent year available.

“When Charles Taylor invaded Liberia, he

unleashed the most deadly combat systemo the current epoch – the adolescent humanmale equipped with an AK-47 assault rie.”

Michael Klare, Proessor o Peace and World Security

Studies, Hampshire College, US

International Action Network on Small ArmsIANSA is the global movement against gun violence and consists o 800 civil societyorganisations working in 120 countries to stop the prolieration and misuse o small armand light weapons. IANSA seeks to make people saer rom gun violence by reducingdemand or weapons, improving frearm regulation and strengthening controls onarms transers. It represents the voices o civil society on the international stage, oexample in the UN process on small arms, and draws on the practical experience oits members to campaign or policies that will protect human security.

Small Arms and Light WeaponsSmall arms and light weapons (SALW) are weapons thatcan be carried and used by one or two people, includinghandguns, assault ries, machine guns, grenade launchers,anti-tank or anti-aircrat guns and light mortars. Light weapons,ammunition, grenades, landmines and explosives are alsopart o this category. The terms weapons, guns, small armsand frearms are used interchangeably in this publication.

Young children play with toy guns in Serbia. It is essential that children are not exposed to guns as a necessary or normal part o daily lie i the global demand o guns is tobe reduced. Photograph: Andrew Testa

The AK-47: The world’savourite killing machine“I would preer to have invented a machine that pecould use and that would help armers with their w- or example a lawnmower.” Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor o the AK-47, speaking in 200

Kalashnikov’s design has spawned many copsuch as the Chinese Type 56.

There are 50-70 million AK-47s worldwide.

At least 82 governments have them in theirmilitary armouries.

It is produced in at least 14 countries, includiAlbania, Bulgaria, China, Germany, Egypt,Hungary, India, Iraq, North Korea, Poland,Romania, Russia, Serbia and Venezuela.

The average price is about $400, though in soArican countries they are sold or as low as $




WarSmall arms are the weapon o choiceor most o the world’s conicts, as

they are small, cheap and easy to carryand maintain. They account or 60-90% o direct conict deaths each yearand are indirectly responsible or manymore, due to the spread o diseaseand hunger caused by armed conict. The absence o eective internationalcontrols makes UN arms embargoesunenorceable, so guns continue toow into conict zones.

Uneasy peaceGuns can remain in society or a longtime ater conict, causing levels o

interpersonal violence to remain high. The 36-year civil war in Guatemalaended in 1996, but rates o gunviolence there are higher now thanthey were during the war. Twenty fvepeople are killed or seriously injuredevery day by gunshots – in a countryo only 12 million.

Urban gun crimeLevels o small arms violence incountries at ‘peace’ can be as high,

or even higher than levels in warzones. For example, total gun deathsin the city o Rio de Janeiro between1997-2000 exceeded conict deathsin war zones such as Aghanistan,Sierra Leone and Uganda during thesame period.

Domestic violenceDomestic violence is more likelethal i there is a gun in the ho

women, the risk o being killeintimate partner increases by there is a gun in the househo

SuicideSuicide attempts involving gmore likely to be atal thanmethods. A 2007 Austrianshowed a decrease in the national suicide rate ater stricton gun purchases were adop

Guns Run Amok: the multiple lives o a single weapon

The movement o small arms across the worldis a huge threat to human security. Around 8million new small arms are manuactured everyyear, but ar more signicant is the movemento second-hand guns rom one user to another.They last - and remain lethal - or decades.

For example, ater the Cold War, Eastern European weaponry was brokeredto reelance war merchants who continue to sell them on or use in conictstoday. Even when conict o cially ends, the weapons remain at large, wherethey can be used to commit crime by individuals or armed groups. At present,it is impossible to monitor or interrupt this deadly ow o weapons. This isbecause:

a) There are no agreed global standards or governments whenauthorising exports or transers.

b) There are no international guidelines on regulation o gun ownershipamong citizens.

c) There is no legally-binding treaty to control the activities o armsbrokers.

d) There is no legal requirement to maintain records linking guns to theirlocation, or to trace guns used in crime.

The diagram (right) illustrates the many paths that a gun cantake, and how it can transer rom the state sector to the privateindividual (or vice versa) many times over. It also shows how thesame gun can pass rom legal to illegal hands during its lietime.The triangles show its potential misuse, while the circles showhow misuse could be prevented.

Consequences o the prolieration o small arms




olice and private securitymisuse

ore human rights abuses are committed

th small arms than with any othereapon. Small arms are the tools usedy state security orces to stie dissent,

orce repressive policies and commituman rights abuses.

med private security guards are aowing concern since they are not

nder state control.

Guns Run Amok: the multiple lives o a single weapon

Gun violence and povertyAll societies are aected by gunviolence but poor countries suer

the brunt o the impact. Poor peopleare the most likely to be shot, yetthey are the least likely to receivetreatment and rehabilitation. Anestimated 3000 people a day arelet severely injured by guns – that’sthree or every person killed. Whilebeing orced into a wheelchair isdi cult and traumatic in developedcountries, it is a devastatingexperience in the developing world,where equipment is scarce andexpensive. Many disabled survivorscannot leave their homes unless a

strong relative is available to carrythem outside.

Because the direct victims o gunviolence are overwhelmingly youngand male, the death rate can havea serious impact on a country’sworkorce, especially in regionswhere women are traditionallyoccupied with bringing up a amily. The economic burden o supportingtheir amilies or becoming ull-timecaregivers then alls on them.

Gun violence destroys jobs andopportunities to escape povertyand it disrupts health and education

services. On a wider scale, nationand international companies cbe driven out o operation, tradereduced because transport cannunction, oreign direct investmediminishes, tourists stay away and tmanagement o inrastructure anational resources is disrupted.

Gun violence has a direct eect the causes o hunger – a survby the UN’s Food and AgricultuOrganisation showed that armconicts are the largest single cauo ood emergencies, responsibor 35% o the these emergencbetween 1992 and 2003.




The end o the Cold War and theglobalisation o the arms trade

Global Principles or International Arms TranPrinciple 1:Responsibilities o statesAll international transers o arms and ammunition shall be authorised by all States with jurover any part o the transer (including import, export, transit, transhipment and brokering) anout in accordance with national laws and procedures that reect, as a minimum, States’ob

under international law . Authorisation o each transer shall be granted by designated State owriting only i the transer in question frst conorms to the Principles set out below in this insand shall not be granted i it is likely that the arms or ammunition will be diverted rom their ilegal recipient or re-exported contrary to the aims o these Principles.

Principle 2:Express limitationsStates shall not authorise international transers o arms or ammunition that violate their expressed obunder international law.

These obligations include:A. Obligations under the Charter o the United Nations – including:

a. Binding resolutions o the Security Council, such as those imposing arms embargob. The prohibition on the threat or use o orce;c. The prohibition on intervention in the internal aairs o another State.

B. Any other treaty or decision by which that State is bound, including:

a. Binding decisions, including embargoes, adopted by relevant international, multilaregional, and sub-regional organisations to which a State is party ;

The end o the Cold War released a ood o arms onto the world market, asthe huge armies o the old Soviet Union were dismantled and their weaponsbecame surplus. Since then the arms industry has become increasingly globalised,enabling arms deals to circumvent national regulation by passing through legal

loopholes in dierent countries. Arms embargoes imposed by the UN havebeen violated several times.

This map shows how an Israeli broker, Leonid Minin, exploited the poorinternational controls on the arms trade to supply weapons to Liberia. Mininwas arrested in a hotel in Italy in August 2000, and ound to be in possession o diamonds, large amounts o cash and 1,500 documents in several languagesrelated to transactions o oil, timber and arms. These transactions appeared tobe mostly with Liberia – a country under UN arms embargo since 1992.

In 1999, Minin had bought 68 tons o surplus military equipment, including3000 AKM assault ries and 1 million rounds o ammunition, rom a Ukrainearms marketing frm called Ukrspetsexport. This transaction was brokered byEngineering and Technical Company Ltd, a shell company located in Gibraltar

but registered in the British Virgin Islands, and reportedly owned by Minin.He provided an end-use certifcate to Ukraine attesting that the weapons’ultimate destination would be Burkina Faso; however, that end-use certifcatewas orged.

The arms ew rom Ukraine to Burkina Faso on an aircrat operated by a UK company, Air Foyle. Once it arrived, the cargo was transported directly to Monrovia,Liberia in several ights made by Minin’s personal business jet. Payments or thearms rom the Liberian government were made to a Hungarian bank accountassociated with the shell company Engineering and Technical Company.

Amnesty International reports that some o these weapons were later suppliedto rebels in Liberia’s neighbour, Sierra Leone, which was also under a UN armsembargo. Thus this arms deal by Leonid Minin led to at least one and possibly

two violations o UN arms embargoes. Yet despite strong evidence against him,the Italian courts were unable to prosecute Minin or his tra cking activitiesbecause the arms transer had not passed through Italian territory.

In late 2006, the UN General Assembly embarked on a process to drat an Arms Trade Treaty, a legally binding instrument to regulate international transerso conventional weapons. The proposed ATT would require all requests orsuch transers to be assessed in terms o their likely impact on human rights,international humanitarian law and sustainable development. The aim is toprevent international transers rom directly or indirectly putting weapons intothe wrong hands. The ATT would make violation o UN embargoes a crimeprosecutable in any country that ratifes the treaty.

I eective controls on international arms transers had been in place when

Minin conducted his deal, then the transer could have been prevented, or atleast successully prosecuted. This is because the controls would have requiredauthorisation by every state touched by the transaction (in this case Ukraine, theUK and Burkina Faso) beore the deal went ahead. In addition, the likely end-user would have been more thoroughly investigated, especially since nearbycountries (Liberia, Sierra Leone) were under embargo. And even i the deal hadgone through despite these checks, then the violations o UN arms embargoswould have made Minin liable or prosecution in any country, regardless o whether the weapons had passed through its national territory.

A group o NGOs rom the IANSA network have developed a set o six principlesor the control o international arms transers (see box). We are campaigning oran eective Arms Trade Treaty based on these principles.

Leonid Minin

Arms Tra cker

Gun Tra cking: how brokers navigate the legal loopholes




b. Prohibitions on arms transers that arise in particulartreaties which a State is party to, such as the 1980 UNConvention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use o Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemedto be Excessively Injurious or to Have IndiscriminateEects, and its Protocols, and the 1997 Convention on theProhibition o Anti-Personnel Mines.

. Universally accepted principles o international humanitarianlaw – including:

a. The prohibition on the use o arms that are o a nature tocause superuous injury or unnecessary suering;

b. The prohibition on weapons or munitions incapable o distinguishing between combatants and civilians.

inciple 3:mitations based on use or likely useates shall not authorise international transers o arms or ammunition whereey are likely to be used or violations o international law, including:. breaches o the UN Charter and customary law rules relating to

the use o orce;

gross violations o international human rights law;

. serious violations o international humanitarian law;

. acts o genocide or crimes against humanity.

Principle 4:Factors to be taken into accountStates shall take into account other actors, including the likely use o the armsor ammunition, beore authorising an arms transer, including the recipient’srecord o compliance with commitments and transparency in the feld o non-prolieration, arms and munitions control, and disarmament.

States should not authorise the transer i it is likely to:A. be used or or to acilitate terrorist attacks;

B. be used or or to acilitate the commission o violent ororganised crime;

C. adversely aect regional security or stability;

D. adversely aect sustainable development;

E. involve corrupt practices;

F. contravene other international, regional, or sub-regionalcommitments or decisions made, or agreements on non-prolieration, arms control, and disarmament to which theexporting, importing, or transit States are party.

Principle 5:TransparencyStates shall submit comprehensive national annual reports on all their international arms and ammunition transers to an international registry,which shall publish a compiled, comprehensive, international annual report.Such reports should cover the international transer o all conventional armsand ammunition including small arms and light weapons.

Principle 6:Comprehensive ControlsStates shall establish common standards or speciic mechanisms control:A. all import and export o arms and ammunition;

B. arms and ammunition brokering activities;

C. transers o arms and ammunition production capacity; and

D. the transit and trans-shipment o arms and ammunition.

States shall establish operative provisions to monitor enorcement and revie procedures to strengthen the ull implementation o the Principles.

NOTE: The Principles above bring together States’existing obligations undinternational law and standards in respect o the international transeo arms and are proposed by a diverse group o non-governmentorganisations. The Principles reect many international instruments a dierent nature: universal treaties, regional treaties, declarations the United Nations, multilateral or regional organisations, regulatiointended to be a model or national legislation, etc. Some o the Principlreect customary and treaty law, while others reect developing laor best practices gaining wide acceptance. The compilation indicatto states the best general rules to adopt in order to establish eectivcontrol o international arms transers according to the rule o law.

Arms brokering incorporates activities such as negotiating,arranging or otherwise acilitatingthe transers o weapons. Oten,the weapons are not physicallypossessed by the broker; nor dothey necessarily originate in thecountry rom which the brokeroperates. Such brokering activitiesare a legitimate and oten integralpart o the international arms trade.However, there is a signifcant lack o regulation on brokering activitieswhich makes it very diicult todistinguish between legitimate andillicit activities.

Gun Tra cking: how brokers navigate the legal loopholes




A Comprehensive ApproachGovernments have recently begun to make the paradigm shit awayrom a narrow concept o ‘national security’ (protecting the state) andtoward a broader vision o ‘human security’ (protecting people). This meansrecognising that weapons acquired or national security can be divertedor misused to increase suering and poverty within their own country orregion. Gun violence is a preventable problem. Stronger regulation o thelegal trade would help keep guns out o the hands o those who are likelyto misuse them, whether it is an armed rebel group committing atrocitiesduring a civil war, a police orce that uses live ammunition to suppress publicdemonstrations, or an individual with a history o domestic violence. Thepublic health community has pointed out that gun violence is a preventableproblem, much like a disease or injury.

Guns: Global solutions or a global problem

First steps toward solving the gun violence epidemic

The new ‘human security’ approach seeto strengthen the current regulatopatchwork on the use and trade guns. All countries agreed to take stein this direction in 2001, under the UProgramme o Action (see box). Sin

2001 many countries have reormed thesmall arms control policies. There are thrbroad categories: ensuring gun users aresponsible, regulating the gun trade anreducing the number o guns.

Under the UN Programme o Action on Small Arms (PoA),every country has committed itsel to:

Improve the enorcement o armsembargoes.

Mark all guns at the point o manuactureto enable identifcation and tracing.

Keep comprehensive and accurate recordsor as long as possible on the manuacture,holding and transer o small arms.

Assess all applications or exportin accordance with ‘strict nationalregulations’ consistent with states’ existingresponsibilities under international law.

Require end-user certifcates or exportsand transit o small arms.

Notiy the original supplier nation i gunsare being re-exported.

Disarmament, Demobilisation &

Reintegration (DDR) o ex-combatants, including collectionand destruction o their weapons.

Destroy surplus, confscated orcollected weapons.

Meet regularly with other countriesto report on progress.

Conduct public awarenesscampaigns on the small armsproblem.

Increase the international exchangeo inormation on this topic.

The Programme o Action does no

Mention human rights.

Indicate how to regulate small arms in thecivilian population.

Mention the problem o arms transers to

non-state actors.Mention the misuse o guns by stateo cials.

Defne ‘adequate laws’ or ‘existingresponsibilities under relevant internationlaw’ .

Recognise the gendered nature o gunmisuse and gun injury.

Recognise the role o the public healthcommunity in helping to solve theproblem.

In July 2001 the frst UN Conerence on Small Arms produced an agreementcalled theUN Programme o Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate theIllicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. Those last

our words, ‘in all its aspects’ are crucially important as an acknowledgemento the multidimensional nature o the small arms problem: it has multipleand diverse sources, and its impact varies in dierent geographic, politicaland social contexts. This means the solutions must also be multidimensional,incorporating measures at local, national, regional and global levels to

control supply, reduce demand,remove existing weapons romcirculation, stop diversion rom

legal to illegal users, closeloopholes, improve detectionand prosecution o oenders, among other steps. A subsidiary agreemeis the 2005 International Instrument to Enable States to Identiy and Train a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons.

Establish a national agency to coordinateamong all the government departmentsand organisations working on dierentaspects o the small arms issue. Theseinclude Customs, Justice, Deence,

Security, Foreign Aairs, Interior, Health,Police, Women, Human Rights, Youth,Environment etc.

Identiy a specifc person or o ce as a pointo contact or o cials in other countriesrequesting or providing inormation onsmall arms.

Involve civil society organisations aspartners in stopping the prolieration andmisuse o guns.

Harmonise national policies amongstates within each region; strengthenregional and sub-regional agreements oncontrolling small arms.

Support the implementation andenorcement o regional agreements andmoratoria on small arms.

Make illicit gun production or possession acriminal oence under national law.

Establish adequate laws to prevent illegalmanuacture and tra cking in guns, ordiversion to unauthorised recipients.

Seek out and prosecute illegal gunproducers and tra ckers.

The UN headquarters in New York




Guns: Global solutions or a global problem

Civilians hand in their weapons as part o a Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration program in Liberia. Weaponcollection is an essential part o reducing gun violence in countries that have suered recent conict.Photograph: Tim A. Hetherington

Ensuring gun users are responsibleGun possession is a privilege with associatedresponsibilities. In most countries, in order todrive a car, applicants must pass a test provingtheir ftness to drive beore a licence is issued.I a car crashes killing a pedestrian, the owner

o the car can be identiied by checking theregistration plate which will be linked to theowner’s name. Guns are specifcally designedto kill. Yet the majority o countries do not haveeective licensing or registration systems or guns.In some countries, gun laws also vary betweenprovinces. The absence o harmonised legislationundermines the regulations o neighbouringcountries and provinces.

Limiting access to inappropriate guns. Forexample, prohibiting civilian possession o military weapons. Some countries also prohibitcivilian possession o handguns, which are

concealable so are used widely in crime.Strictly licensing every user. The user shouldprovide proo that he needs the gun, andshould undergo thorough background checksto ensure that the user does not have a historyo violence.

Registering every gun to its user or to thearmoury where it is being stored. A centraldatabase would permit authorities to traceillicit guns to their last legal user, and soprevent uture diversion.

Training police and other o cials to knowwhen to fre their gun as well as how to fre it;

and holding them accountable or any abusescommitted with their weapons.

Saely storing military, police and civilianweapons and ammunition to prevent thet,leakage onto the criminal market or accidents.Updating old or insecure warehouses witheective and modern saety devices andalarms. Storing guns saely at home to preventgun accidents, suicide, misuse and thet.

Regulating the gun tradeGuns are a dangerous product requiring specialregulation on manuacture and transer. Becausethey leak so easily rom the legal to the illegalsphere, regulation should be strong and consistentacross the entire chain o commerce. The globalised

arms trade requires strong regional and globalstandards preventing tra ckers, criminals andabusers rom taking advantage o loopholes.

Regulating all aspects o the gun trade,including manuacturing, brokering, fnancing,transporting and also frearm dealers.

Marking and registering all newly made guns,so that they can be traced. Any previouslyunmarked gun should be marked when theyare encountered by police (eg on import orwhen making inventory o stockpiles).

Prohibiting all private frearm transers (loans,

gits, sales). All transers must be through alicensed dealer and involve prior change o o cial registration details rom frst user tosecond user.

Requiring users to have a licence beorepurchasing ammunition.

Requiring an authentic certifcate describingthe intended use or all international smallarms transers. Prohibiting transers i they arelikely to be used to commit serious violationso international humanitarian or human rightslaw, or undermine sustainable development. This is the core o the Global Principles on

Arms Transers (see pages 6-7).

Reducing the number o gunsGuns can be misused by their legitimate owneven under the strongest regulations. Guns calso be stolen rom their legal user, and in macountries this is a signifcant source o illicit guA society with ewer guns will reduce the risk

diversion and build confdence in the rule o la This involves removing weapons rom circulatiand addressing the reasons why people waguns.

Destroying surplus weapons, as well as thoseized by police or collected in disarmameprograms.

Recovering weapons through amnestand buybacks. For example in post-concountries such as Cambodia and Sierra Leoweapons have been recovered in exchange development incentives that reduce poveand help to improve human security.

Building police capacity so that citizens truthem to enorce the law and prosecute crimand communities do not eel the need arm themselves.

Providing jobs or people who migotherwise turn to armed crime as a wayobtaining money.

Educating the public about the real riskshaving guns in the home.

Providing alternative models o masculinitybreak the perceived link between manlineand guns.

From Words to Action

A renovated warehouse or storing military guns inCambodia. A sae storage program ensures that each gunis entered into a database, cleaned, placed in racks and secured with cables. (photo: JSAC)




Global Week o Action Against GunViolence This annual activity is the largest coordinatedgun prevention event in the world. Activistsin 65 countries took part in the 2007 Week o Action, which included rock concerts, photoexhibitions and public rallies. This culminated

in the announcements o major governmentinitiatives in Argentina and Sri Lanka.

Reducing secrecy in the Spanisharms tradeIANSA members in Spain are instrumental in thecampaign or greater transparency in the Spanisharms trade, resulting in more stringent governmentreporting and stronger control mechanisms overexport. The government adopted a motion torequire parliamentary authorisation or all utureSpanish arms exports in 2005.

Saving lives through gun lawreorm in BrazilIANSA members have made considerable progressin Brazil, where women’s organisations have beenparticularly active. Their slogan “Choose gun ree– your weapon or me” was used to conront notionso gun ownership and masculinity. National gun

laws were strengthened in 2003 and 400,000 gunswere taken out o circulation the ollowing yearthrough a government buyback. A year ater thereorms, the gun death rate dropped 8%, whichmeant that 3,234 ewer people died by gunshotin 2004 than in 2003.

Gun-ree elections in thePhilippinesAt the urging o IANSA members, the governmentbanned frearms in public places rom January2007, hoping to reduce violence associated withthe election in May. The national IANSA coalition

then promoted the ban in communities athe media. The previous elections in 2004 hbeen marked by high levels o murders and othviolence. Police reported a 60% drop in murdduring the 2007 elections compared to 2004 (compared to 189).

Control Arms – towards a globalArms Trade TreatyAs a member o the Control Arms Campaialongside Oxam and Amnesty International, IANhas been heavily involved in pushing or a gloArms Trade Treaty. The campaign has gatherthe support o over one million people worldwithrough the Million Faces Petition, which wdelivered to the UN Secretary-General in 200A major victory was achieved in December 20when 153 o the world’s governments votedstart work on an Arms Trade Treaty in 2007.

IANSA: Who we are and what we do

The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) is the globalmovement against gun violence - 800civil society organisations working in120 countries to stop the prolierationand misuse o small arms and light

weapons (SALW). IANSA seeks tomake people saer rom gun violenceby reducing demand or weapons,improving frearm regulation andstrengthening controls on armstransers. It represents the voiceso civil society on the internationalstage, or example in the UN processon small arms, and draws on thepractical experience o its membersto campaign or policies that willprotect human security.

SpainBrazil Mali

IANSA - the global movement against gun violenceWho we areIANSA is composed o a wide range o organisations concerned with small arms,including:

policy development organisations.

national gun control groups.

women’s groups.

research institutes.

aid agencies.

aith groups.

public health proessionals.

survivors o gun violence.

human rights and community actionorganisations.

Where we work The geographic distribution o IANSAmembers:

North America – 8%

Latin America – 15%

European Union – 18%

Eastern Europe – 12%

Sub-Saharan Arica – 31%

Middle East and North Arica – 1%

Asia – 15%

Yemen




What’s ahead or IANSA?Campaigning or strong nationalgun laws, regional agreements and

international initiatives to reduce theprolieration and misuse o small arms.

Supporting the UN Small Arms processand the process or developing an Arms

Trade Treaty.

Increasing the engagement o civil

society in national, regional andinternational action to reduce gun

violence.

Building awareness and understanding o

the small arms crisis and its solutions.

IANSA: Who we are and what we do

United Nations

India

Burundi

IANSAWomen’s NetworkMembers o the IANSA Women’s Network are

working to stop gun violence in the home,on the streets and on the battlefeld. They

are using UN Security Council Resolution1325 to increase women’s participationin disarmament processes and in the

development o small arms policy andpractise. They ensure that women’s interests

are served by these policies and campaignto break the link between violence and

masculinity. The network produces a quarterlybulletin called Women at Work: PreventingGun Violence.

Exposing the gun culture myth inthe Middle EastResearch on the demand or guns in the MiddleEast undermines the claim that a gun culture isan integral part o Arab society. IANSA memberssurveyed people in Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan andthe West Bank in 2006. They discovered that a

clear majority o people wanted a society withewer guns.

Partnerships with government inEast AricaLocal civil society organisations are members o every National Small Arms Commission in the GreatLakes and Horn o Arica. The 11 governmentsunited against gun violence by agreeing the NairobiProtocol on Small Arms. This treaty came into orcein May 2006, and the National Commissions areinvolved in implementing the Protocol.

Weapons or Development in SierraLeoneCommunity and church groups have been helpingthe government and UN carry out an ‘Arms orDevelopment’ program since 2003. Weapons areexchanged or community-based developmentincentives. In areas that have benefted rom the

program, people traumatised by the conict noweel more confdent.

Linking domestic violence to gunsin El SalvadorLegal frearms are the primary weapons used indomestic homicides, and or every woman killedor injured, many more are threatened. Memberso the IANSA Women’s Network collected 3500signatures during the 2007 Global Week o ActionAgainst Gun Violence, to petition Congress or alaw stopping domestic violence oenders romowning guns.

Our goalsIANSA aims to reduce small armed violence by:

raising awareness among policy makers,the public and the media about the globalthreat to human rights and human securitycaused by small arms.

promoting civil society eorts to preventarms prolieration and armed violencethrough policy development, publiceducation and research.

ostering collaborative advocacy eorts,and providing a orum or NGOs to shareexperiences and build skills.

acilitating civil society participation inglobal and regional processes.

promoting the voices o survivors, insolidarity with them and their amilies.



I t ti l A ti N t k S ll A (IANSA) D l t H 56 64 L d St t L d EC2A 4LT UK T +44 20 7065 0870 F +44 20 7065 0871 E t t@i W i

campaigning or ewer guns and saer communitie

3000injured

every day

global crisis 07

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