Prevent Armed Violence:
Include SALW in the ATT
Jasmin Nario-Galace
Associate Director, Center for Peace Education
Co-Chair, International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA)
Steering Committee member, Philippine Action Network to Control
Arms (PhilANCA)
What is SALW?
Small arms include “revolvers and selfloading pistols, rifles and carbines, assault
rifles, submachine guns and light machine
guns”
 Light weapons include “heavy machine
guns, hand-held under-barrel and
mounted grenade launchers, portable
anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile systems,
mortars of less than 100mm caliber”

Why are SALWs widely used?
Easy to use
 Inexpensive
 Abundant
 Easily available
 Durable

Why are SALWs a concern?

a.
The widespread availability is a
contributing factor to :
the rates of injury and death
ICRC reported that the vast majority of
those killed or injured in armed conflicts
have been the victims of assault rifles,
grenades, mortars and other small arms.
And they have all too often been used,
not against soldiers in combat, but
against civilians.
Q:How many people are killed by SMALL arms?
A.
B.
C.
D.
One person a day
One person every hour
One person every minute
Ten people everyday
Every year, throughout the world,
more than
half a million people are killed by
small arms--that’s one person every minute
(Small Arms
Survey, 2001).
Why are SALWs a Concern?
 SALW
proliferation enables,
intensifies and sustains
armed conflicts
“Most armed conflicts are fought primarily with
SALW...and such are weapons of choice in civil wars
and terrorism, organized crime and warfare”.
-(Report of the UNSG to the SC on the
subject of small arms (S/2008/258)
Case in Point: The Philippines
- The armed conflict between the government
and the Communist Party of the Philippines- a
conflict running for more than 40 years now
-The armed battle between GRP and the
MILF is more than 40 years old, as well
Why are SALWs a Concern?
 “Arms
purchases divert resources
away from efforts to improve human
development. Countries plagued by
armed violence in situations of crime or
conflict often perform poorly in terms of
the MDGs. Moreover, armed violence
forms a serious impediment to economic
growth.” –UNSG Report to the SC on the
subject of small arms (S/2008/258)
-SALW
proliferation impedes
development or reverses development
gains
Loss of opportunities for direct foreign
investment and local investment

Tourism declines

Difficulty in carrying out development
programs SAs are often used as a tool of intimidation in pursuing

“development” projects (e.g., dam building, logging, oil exploitation)
Case in Point: Philippines is #136 in the Global Peace
Index of 153 countries ranked- the proliferation of small
arms was one of the reasons cited for such low ranking
-
SALWs play a role in the ability of
armed groups to commit gross human
rights abuses
extra-judicial
killings
torture and other cruel treatments
arbitrary arrests
sexual violence
enforced disappearances
suppression of the right to peaceably assemble,
opinion, to be elected in office, and to claim
ownership of resources like land
SALWs facilitate violations of international
humanitarian law
Some examples:
-attacks on peacekeepers and humanitarian workers
and hostage-taking violate the Geneva Conventions
(ICRC workers kidnapped in Mindanao)
-genocide or mass killings violate the Geneva
Conventions
-extensively destroying property not justified by military
necessity violates Geneva Conventions
-purposely directing attacks against civilians violates the
Geneva Conventions
-forcibly recruiting children to become combatants
violates the Geneva Conventions
Why the Concern about SALW?
It is most often small arms and light
weapons (SALW) that are used to
facilitate and commit various forms of
violence and crimes against women, both
during and outside of armed conflict.
These forms of violence violate
international human rights law and
international humanitarian law.
Case in Point
64,000 women and girlswereestimated to have
suffered war-related sexual violence in Sierra
Leone’s civil war between 1991 and 2002.
Testimonies of women explain how the assaults
were endured at gunpoint. ´They put their guns
to our throats and stomachs to make sure that
we followed their orders,’ one woman reported
Firearms in Focus

875 million guns in
circulation worldwide
1,000 people daily
killed by gunshots
+ 8,000,000 new guns /year
- 800,000 destroyed /year
Small Arms Survey, 2007
23%
military
3%
74%
police
civilian (incl.
security guards)
Q: In recent years, 490,000 people have
died from conflict-related and crimerelated armed violence, how much of this
was perpetrated using firearms?
A. 50%
B. 70%
C. 40%
D. 60%
Firearms in Focus

An estimated 490,000 non-armed conflict killings
have taken place in the world each year of which
an average of 60%-roughly 300,000 annually-are
estimated to have been perpetrated using
firearms.
Note: more gun facts can be found at gunpolicy.org
with country to country comparison charts
Source: IANSA and Amnesty International (2011). How an arms trade treaty can help
prevent armed violence.
INCLUDING SALW IN THE ATT


The correlation between arms availability
and armed violence and the uncontrolled
proliferation of SALW as a key element in
fuelling armed violence has time and again
been noted.
A way of addressing availability is to improve
controls on the supply of these weapons
including their import, export and
international transfer. Including SALW in the
scope of the ATT can contribute in reducing
armed violence.
Conclusion
The ATT provides an opportunity to help
reduce and prevent armed violence
caused by SALW availability and
proliferation.
 Member-States of the United Nations
must seize this opportunity.

Include SALW in the scope of the ATT!
References
IANSA and Amnesty International (2011).
How an arms trade treaty can help
prevent armed violence.
 SIPRI Yearbook 2011: Armaments,
Disarmament and International Security
