This week, civil society organisations in 70 countries will unite to mark a Global Week of Action against gun violence. With an estimated 600 million weapons in circulation worldwide, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) remains a major obstacle to peace and development in politically unstable and conflict-afflicted countries. Specialist MAG teams are working to reduce the threat of SALW for local communities in both Africa and the Middle East.
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Destroying small arms in DR Congo. |
Cheap, readily available and easy to transport, small arms such as handguns and grenades kill more than a million people across the world each year and hamper efforts in rebuilding and stabilising war-torn countries. More than 600 million weapons are thought to be in circulation worldwide.
Small arms, (defined as weapons carried by an individuals) and light weapons (larger items which require a crew of two or more to operate) prolong wars and foster a culture of fear and violence for civilians in post-conflict environments. The unregulated presence of small arms and light weapons restrict people’s access to education, healthcare facilities, water and land for cultivation. In addition, fear of death and injury has a negative impact on those who live, work and grow up in a society where gun and other types of weapons are prevalent.
Small arms often find their way into civilian hands from official sources due to a combination of factors such as the breakdown of state structures, loose controls over national armouries and poor service conditions for security personnel. In the context of civil war and insurgency the unregulated availability of SALW enables militias and warlord armies to fight their own governments, further creating climates of insecurity for civilian populations.
Globally, the sources of SALW proliferation are numerous and varied. The collapse of the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s and withdrawal of Russian troops from various states in some cases literally left the doors open to huge stockpiles of weapons and ammunition which had constituted the Red Army’s war reserves and access to abandoned cargo aircraft able to ship them globally.
Other major pipelines of SALW remain the stockpiles that were shipped into Africa in the 1970s and 1980s by the former Soviet Union and other cold war parties. These leftover weapons have since been used by illegitimate networks to exacerbate ongoing conflicts and facilitate the commencement of new ones in the continent.
MAG is working to reduce this threat with active SALW programmes currently underway in Iraq, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Somalia and Burundi. MAG destruction teams ensure that malfunctioning, badly stored and abandoned weapons are disposed of safely and that legally held stockpiles meet appropriate safety standards. By clearing the threats from uncontrolled small arms and light weapons, MAG helps to achieve long-term and sustainable development objectives for those living in both war-torn and post-conflict societies.
» Click to read more about how MAG is destroying stockpiles of weapons and ammunition in DR Congo
» Find out about MAG's approach to dealing with the threat of small arms and light weapons in Iraq
