IANSA Regions: South East Asia and the Pacific Region

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South East Asia & The Pacific
	Southeast Asia has been slow in taking effective action to combat illegal arms transfers though the region has a serious problem with the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons. Three factors make South East Asia susceptible to small arms trafficking: 1. The region is the scene of numerous intra-state conflicts, including in Indonesia, Burma and the Philippines, that draws the demand for weapons from non-state actors. Unable to afford new arms or find sellers on the legal arms market, non-state actors often turn to arms dealers and brokers who will supply used or ‘surplus’ arms.
2. South East Asia has ready stockpiles of existing weapons. The region has several post-conflict states, where vast numbers of military small arms and light weapons can easily be obtained. Post-war estimates of 500,000 and one million military small arms in Cambodia alone, although this has certainly dropped today due to somein-country collection and destruction, and outflow from the country onto the black market. Weapons left over from thewars in Vietnam and Laos as well as imported arms from China and the Middle East are also finding their way to insurgents, criminals and terrorists throughout the region. 3. Southeast Asia is a region with long maritime and continental frontiers that are extremely difficult to monitor and police. Many of ASEAN’s members are also ‘weak states’ and lack the capacity to effectively control their borders and interdict arms traffickers. Such states also often store national inventories of legally owned small arms in insecure and poorly managed facilities, making theft, loss and consequently smuggling, possible. Many also lack adequate domestic gun control legislation and enforcement. Sales from Thai Army arsenals feature in the local papers on a somewhat regular basis, and those are only the ones caught by the police. The destabilising nature of the proliferation and misuse of small arms has been most evident in places like Timor, Maluku and the Southern Philippines, but illegal guns also create serious social problems in other ASEAN states. In Malaysia, for example, in a high profile case, persons impersonationg military officers removed weapons without hinderance from a military camp and used them to set up an insurgency in nearby jungle. Of more immediate concern to many ordinary people in ASEAN countries are the small arms in the hands of state agents used illicitly to commit extrajudicial executions and disappearances as well as for threats against popular organizing. The Pacific: Lawfully held civilian stockpiles of small arms in the Pacific Island nations include 3.1 million firearms, or one privately held gun for every ten people. Key points of a recent comprehensive study of the region found: The vast majority of firearms in the Pacific, over 3 million, are privately owned by Australians and New Zealanders, who rank among the most heavily-armed civilians in the industrialised world. New Zealand holds the largest per capita stockpile in the region. The region’s combined law enforcement and military forces hold an estimated 220,000 small arms, or one-fifteenth the civilian stockpile. In Fiji, the Solomon Islands and New Guinea, groups bent on rebellion, intimidation and profit have treated state armouries as gun supermarkets. Much work has been done, and much more is needed to improve armoury security and management practices in many Pacific Island states. Firearms that ‘leak’ from lawful owners to criminals are the most common instruments of gun crime and violence in the Pacific. Allegations of widespread arms smuggling are rarely supported by evidence. Most Pacific nations are at peace, whether their citizens are armed or not. In nations not experiencing armed conflict, levels of firearm violence are generally very low. However, a number of Pacific nations are or have recently undergone armed conflict with considerable social and economic effects. The Solomon Islands continue to teeter on the edge of economic collapse, while in Bougainville, the production base has been almost completely destroyed. Public confidence in the institutions of state has been badly shaken in all three case study communities. A coordinated regional effort to tighten small arms controls in the Pacific began in 1996 and led to the initiatives contained in the Nadi Framework, agreed to Pacific Islands Forum states in 2000. "(Adapted from the book "Small Arms Production and Transfers in South East Asia," by David Capie)" Regional Links: Small Arms Survey: Asia-Pacific Nonviolence International – Southeast Asia Small Arms Challenges in South East Asia Legal Controls on Small Arms and Light Weapons in Southeast Asia (July 2001) Panorama 1/2001 (Acrobat and ZIP required) Small Arms Trade and Proliferation in East Asia: Southeast Asia and the Russian Far East Institute of International Relations, University of British Columbia Association of South East Asian Nations Small Arms Production and Transfers in South East Asia by David Capie Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development Australia: A ban on handguns (sort of) in Australia (IANSA News December 2002) Gun Control Australia Australian Institute of Criminology The Licensing and Registration Status of Firearms Used in Homicide (May 2000) Australian Institute of Criminology Firearm-Related Violence: The Impact of the Nationwide Agreement on Firearms (May 1999). Australian Institute of Criminology National Report on the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects Cambodia: Flame of Peace in Khmer Rouge territory Arms destruction in Cambodia - a flame of peace (IANSA News December 2002) Working Group for Weapons Reduction in Cambodia (WGWR) Japan National Report on the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (part 1) National Report on the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (part 2) New Zealand: Peace Movement Aotearoa Peace Foundation Aotearoa / New Zealand Papua New Guinea National Coalition to Stop Gun Violence Other Pacific Islands Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (Fiji) IANSA Pacific Network update: putting the brakes on Pacific gunrunning (IANSA News December 2002) The Nadi Framework (Rich Text Format) Under the Gun: The Small Arms Challenge in the Pacific by David Capie Small Arms in the Pacific by Connor Twyford and Philip Alpers