Department of Peace and Conflict Studies
University of Dhaka.
Abstract
Small
arms and light weapons are generating a great impact on wars and conflicts,
including civil wars. In the cold-war era, the small conflicts were range for
small arms. However, war can be trigger on for many reasons, and the use of
small arms and light weapons is one of the dangerous of them. The availability
and carrying flexibility these types of weapons create tremendous security threat
for human being anywhere in the world. So it is a kind of big concern to
protect illegal trade of small arms and light weapons and its impact on transferring
conflict into war. In this writing, I
would like to explain some cases and survey of small arms and light weapons;
and its impact on conflict and war.
Introduction
Small
Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) is a term used in arms control. Small arms refer
to hand-held small caliber firearms. Light weapons include a wide range of
medium caliber and explosive ordnance. These two types of arms are mostly
responsible for engaging in conflicts as well as in wars. We know that the
immediate post cold-war period was characterized by internal conflicts with
severe negative consequences for internal cohesion and political stability. Aside
from the internationally unacceptable processes of engagements, the conflicts
were highly prosecuted with the use of the highly lethal small arms and light
weapons. So it is experienced that the illegal and miss use of small arms and
light weapons can make peace keeping and security process very vulnerable and
even it can be the cause of mass destruction or genocide by terrorist groups or
any kinds of hidden guerrilla groups.
Definition of Small arms
There
is no universally accepted definition of small arms. But, UN defined the small
arms in general angle.
A
definition adopted by the “UN Panel of
Governmental Experts on Small Arms”: Small arms include revolvers and
self-loaded pistols, rifles and carbines, assault rifles, sub-machine guns, and
light machine guns.
In Cambodian perspective, A `weapons’ is defined as including: all types of
firearms and pistols; firearms which cause watery eyes, fainting, or poisoning:
all types of automatic or semi-automatic firearms; soundless firearms or
soundless equipment; all types of rocket; all types of chemical weapons; all
types of biological weapons; all types of electrical shock sticks; all types of
grenades and mines; all types of explosive substance; and all types of bullets
(Cambodia, 1999, art. 2).
In
8 December 2005, UN General Assembly declared that, “Small arms refer to
hand-held small caliber firearms, usually consisting to handguns, rifles,
shotguns, manual, semi-automatic, and man portable machine guns.
Definition of Light Weapons
In 8 December 2005, UN General
Assembly defined
the light weapons: This definition is- “Light weapons” are broadly speaking
weapons designed for using by two or three persons serving as a crew, although
some may be carried and used by a single person.
Broadly speaking, the term, light weapons, refer to
any weapon that can be carried by one or two people. Light weapons include
military-style guns-- pistols, carbines, assault rifles, and light machine guns
to grenade launchers, mortars, mobile anti-tank guns and rocket launchers, and
shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile launchers. Munitions used with these
weapons; such as bullets, grenades and missiles, landmines; and explosives are
also encompassed by the term.
Beating
the People by Small Arms and Light Weapons
The people, who are beaten by the
small arms and light weapons, are specifically mentioned below-
I. Civilians: Millions of people are caught in the crossfire of warfare or
become victims of armed crime. Many are women and children.
II. Children: The light weight and small size of these weapons has made it
possible for children to be recruited or compelled to become soldiers. For
example, child soldiers were particularly exploited in recent wars in Liberia
and the Sudan.
III.
Political Dissidents, Union
Organizers, Land Rights Activists and Journalists: Small arms are the principal tool of intimidation used by
repressive police and military forces. The massacre in Chiapas last December of
45 unarmed civilians, carried out by government-affiliated paramilitary forces
with high-powered AK-47 assault rifles, is one of countless examples.
IV.
Foreign Relief and Development
Workers:
Armed conflict often creates the
humanitarian emergencies that relief workers are called in to alleviate. In
addition, aid workers are increasingly coming under fire that being killed,
kidnapped, or threatened.
V.
International Peacekeeping Troops:
The United Nations found that small
arms and light weapons pose the principal threat to international troops
seeking to establish or maintain peace among combatants.
Small
Arms and Light Weapons; Impact on Wars and Conflicts
Small arms and light weapons fuel
civil wars and other conflicts that causes harm to millions of people. Africa
can be a most relevant example for such kinds of hamper. These small weapons
are only part of a larger trade that includes heavier and more lethal weaponry.
But light arms are often especially baneful because they are cheap, easy to
transport and can be handled by ill-trained rebel soldiers and even children.
Recently, UN reports show how these
weapons are illicitly exported and transported with the connivance of
government officials in many countries and smuggled into war zones. In some
areas, automatic weapons are so cheap than the chicken or a few pounds of rice.
Thus, the impact of wars for light
weapons and small arms are broadly discussed below:
Focusing
on small arms and light weapons for Wars
With the end of the cold war, increased
attention is being paid today to the devastation wrought by armed conflict
around the world. Previously referred to by official Washington as "low
intensity conflicts," these wars have resulted in the death of well over
one million people this decade. The vast majority of these casualties--as many
as 90 percent--are civilian victims of indiscriminate warfare.
The International Committee of the Red Cross
has determined that small arms are the principal cause of death in conflicts.
In fact, these arms are thought to be responsible for 90 percent of recent war
casualties. Small/light arms are cheap and portable, and are used by all
combatants--state militaries, militias, and insurgents. It is the
prevalence--that is, the widespread proliferation--of these arms, combined with
their indiscriminate use that renders them responsible for so much of the
killing. In addition, small and light arms are used in crime and terrorist acts
around the world.
Small Arms and Light Weapons;
Utility and Lethality
The utility and lethality of
rapid fire assault rifles, automatic pistols and submachine guns and their
diffusion to non-state actors has given such groups a firepower that often
matches or exceeds that of national police or constabulary forces. I would like
to mention the features of small arms and light weapons in the wars and
conflicts. Typically, any act of violence and the extreme case of conflict-
war, is perpetrated with the aid of weapons deployed by all sides in order to
subdue or annihilate the opponents. To this extent, each epoch in the
development of humanity boasts of its unique weapons of war that are germane to
the pursuit of its agenda. Some of these deadly and injury-inflicting weapons
include; spears, swords, catapults and knives.
With the advancement in
technology, other weapons for prosecuting wars, with no less lethal capabilities,
such as Dane-guns, and at some point, machine guns and bombs, became the
weapons of choice for warring parties. However, as the world continued to
advance in the development of science and technology, so also is the continuous
advancement in the capacity to destroy, kill or maim. Subsequently, the
international system became awash with series of weapons of mass-destruction,
such as; ballistic missiles, landmines, rocket launchers, biological and
chemical weapons, and nuclear weapons. Indeed, the technologically-driven
lethal weapons have limitless capacity, to the extent that an entire city could
be destroyed with the drop of a bomb. Japan experienced the wrath of nuclear
weapons during the Second World-War, when two of such bombs were dropped in the
two Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This resulted in the death of
countless number of people and the unquantifiable destruction of two cities,
the consequent surrender of Japan and the change in the country’s foreign
policy focus.
The destructive
and damaging effects of these weapons subsequently became a concern for the
international community, especially the nuclear powers. The possible havoc the
weapons could wreck on the international system as evinced in the Japanese
experience encouraged the initiation of global coalition to limit and prohibit
the use of weapons of mass destruction, such as; chemical and biological
weapons, and nuclear weapons. In an unprecedented initiative, the two cold-war
adversaries, the United States and the former Soviet Union, in time, realized
the dangers of the arms’ race in the Cold-War era, and thus, organized
bilateral talks called the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks I (SALT I) aimed at
global armament control.[i] This eventually became the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT
I) and Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II (SALT II) Agreements. These talks
led to more armament control collaborative efforts in later years, such as the
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I, II and the New START). All these efforts
were basically aimed at controlling and managing the stockpiling and the
deployment of weapons of mass destruction, which Journal of Studies in Social
Sciences 192 includes perhaps the most dangerous weapon in recent times, the
unmanned aerial vehicle (drone).
In terms
of planning and execution, the resultant civil-wars are prosecuted often time,
with the warring parties going against the norms of international conventions.
As mentioned earlier, there are associated reasons deriving from both the external
environment and the African internal environment that provide the platform for
relatively easy and smooth possession of small arms and light weapons. From the
external dimension, the easy access to illicit small arms and light weapons is
related to the changed circumstances of the military hardware companies in
Eastern European, consequent upon the dramatic end of the Cold-War.
Specifically, a number of Eastern European countries, such as Ukraine and
Bulgaria were left with massive stockpiles of Soviet-era small arms and light
weapons after the Cold-War. Thus, they had to seek new markets outside of
Europe, and Africa; for its many pockets of crisis provided the perfect market.
Mush’s (2001) argument in this respect is poignant.
Civilians
Affected by Small Arms; a Short Survey
These consider the following examples-
I.
Modern
conflicts claim an estimated half a million people each year. 300,000 of these are from
conflicts, and 200,000 are from homicides and suicides.
IV.
At
least 1,134 companies in 98 countries
worldwide are involved in some aspect of the production of small arms and/or
ammunition.[iii]
V.
Civilians
purchase more than 80% of all the firearms that are currently manufactured
worldwide each year.[iv]
VI.
There
are at least 639 million firearms in the world today, of which 59% are legally
held by civilians.
VII.
Over
80 percent of all these casualties have been civilian
VIII.
90 percent of civilian
casualties are caused by small arms. This is far higher than the casualty count from
conventional weapons of war like tanks, bomber jets or warships.
Present
Problem of Small Arms
Some of the factors include that small arms are often
I.
Long-life;
II.
Low
maintenance;
III.
Relatively
cheap and easily available;
IV.
Highly
portable and so easily concealable.
The above therefore makes it easy for things like:
I.
Illicit
trafficking;
Recommendation by the Journal of
Studies in Social Sciences
The
following recommendations are suggested by Journal of Studies in Social
Sciences-
I.
The institutionalization of good
governance regime in member-states,
II.
Institutional limitation of weapons in
circulation,
III.
Legal supervision and centralization of
data on weapons,
IV.
Initiation of a dialogue or partnership
with arms manufacturers or suppliers,
V.
Establishment of a data base and
regional arms register
Conclusion
At last it can be said that,
the uncontrolled presence of SALW has not only led to conflict, it has also
exacerbated conflicts on various occasions, and indeed, encouraged the revisit
of old conflicts, thereby, undermining the security arrangement of the
sub-region, and also impacting, negatively, on all aspects of life. Admittedly,
the problem is increasingly complex and policies to control and regulate these
weapons will not come easily. Nonetheless, the scale of death and injury caused
by light weapons is such that the international community must continue to
search for effective means of controlling and reducing that lethal commerce of small
arms and light weapons in the world.
Reference:
A.
UN Panel of Governmental Experts on
Small Arms, 1997.
B.
UN General Assembly; 8 December 2005.
C.
Ibid
D.
United
Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs (UNDDA)- 2001, A Destruction Handbook, Small Arms, Light
Weapons, Ammunition and Explosives.
E.
Musah,
A. (2001), “Africa: The Political Economy of Small Arms and Conflicts”. DPMN
Bulletin, Vol. – VIII, No-1, pp- 94-112.
F.
Bonn
International Center for Conversion (BICC), (2000). Tackling Small Arms and Light Weapons: A Practical Guide for Collection
and Destruction, Bonn.
G.
Kleck,
Gary, Nothing Succeeds Like Failure.
(1996) Under Fire: Gun Buy-backs, Exchanges and Amnesty Programs. Washington,
D.C., p-78.
Berman, E. (2001),
“Arming the Revolutionary United Front”, African Security Review, Vol. 10, No
1. p- 89.
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