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| Small Arms in South Asia |
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| Background |
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The number of civilian casualties involving
small arms is much greater than the number of dead in armed
conflicts. Smaller conflicts have been large in number and do
not attract the attention of the Government and CSO because
they are not all out war. About 80% of the 20,000 killed in
South Asia in the last 50 years are due to this menace.
In South Asia which otherwise abound nuclear threats and conventional
arms build-up, there is growing awareness of the menace of small
arms and its impact on societal peace and human security.
One-day consultations were held in various South Asian capitals
as a prelude to a regional meeting of Government officials and
members of the civil societies aimed at providing feedback to
the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms in All
its Aspects to be held in Geneva in July 2001. The focus of
the consultations was to deliberate on the challenges of proliferation
of small arms in national and regional perspective. Another
aim was to recommend concrete measures to address the proliferation
of small arms both by Government and CSOs.
Governments need to continue to commit themselves to general
disarmament, anti-personal landmines, CTBT, organized crimes,
terrorism, human and drug trafficking. In addition, control
of small arms in the areas of :
1. Crime prevention and legal measures against illicit trade
of small arms and light weapons; and
2. Arms control and disarmament activities. |
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| Causes |
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| In the region, Bangladesh is sandwiched between
the golden triangle the drug producing sub-region in the South
East and Golden Crescent, the small arms producing sub-region.
Existing of a number of insurgencies in the vicinity also, increase
the demand side of small arms. India and Pakistan are both suppliers
as well as end users. Bangladesh and Nepal which were once transit
routes have also become end users. Sri Lanka is an end user
now. Stockpiles from the Afghanistan war is a major factor in
the proliferation. One estimates that AK47 in the region is
at least 8 m of the total of 40 m small arms in the region.
Internal conflicts continue in the name of Kashmir, Ealam, etc.
In Pakistan about 5.2 m. licenses to possess small arms have
been issued since 1970 and still 10 m small arms are unregistered. |
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| National Consultations
that were held in South Asia : |
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• New Delhi (india): 2-3 February 2001
• Dhaka (bangladesh): 12 February 2001
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Colombo (sri lanka): 24 February 2001
• Lahore (pakistan):
1 March 2001
• Kathmandu (nepal): 10 April 2001 |
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| The national consultation
focused on the following major areas:- |
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• Illicit manufacture, trade and transfer.
• Stockpile management and storage.
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Collection and destruction of surplus weapons.
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Civilian possession of small arms.
• Arms in part-conflict
situations.
• Weapons designed for military use in
the hands of civilians.
• Transparency, confidence-building
and information exchange. |
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| In the discussions, we recognized : |
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o Most of the small arms in circulation in
the region were originally manufactured in western countries.
o Money laundering and safe havens abroad as the main factors
for the spread of this menace.
o There should be documentation from the production stage all
the way to its owner.
o Need to distinguish between legislation rights of self determination
and terrorism.
o Close monitoring is required so that illicit transfer does
not take place under the cover of legal trade, and that captured
weapons are not re-cycled back to the criminals.
o Socio-Economic development and removal of educated unemployment
to root out the causes for the spread of use of small arms and
drugs. |
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| Regional Co-operation |
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| There is need for effective regional co-operation
to meeting the challenges of small arms. SAARC needs to evolve
an integrated regional action program. The Anti-Terrorism Convention
of 1987 should to be strengthened. |
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