The confusion in the former Soviet
army following the breakup of the USSR in 1991 resulted in
over
40,000 SALW becoming available to paramilitary groups in Georgia
in just twelve months. Going from a situation where most weapons
were carefully controlled to one where heavily armed paramilitary
groups roamed the country facilitated a civil war and two conflicts
for independence. By the time order was partially restored
in 1995, the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions had become
pragmatically autonomous and thousands of people had been killed.
Abkhazia has a severe SALW problem; it has been suggested that every household
has at least one gun, and security is unlikely to improve soon as there appear
to be intractable differences between the local government and the Georgian
government. There are 60 deaths by firearms per year in the demilitarised zone
(a rate of 120 deaths per 100,000 people) with half of these civilians.
In contrast, the Joint Peacekeeping Force that polices the South Ossetia region
has enjoyed some success in bringing the conflict there under control, with
900 SALW recovered 2000-2002. A Weapons Exchange for Development (WfD) program
has been initiated by the OSCE in July 2002, with the idea of exchanging weapons
for improved water supplies.
The lack of border controls in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the proximity
of Georgia to Chechnya has encouraged significant illicit arms smuggling into
Chechnya, almost certainly through the Pankisi Gorge.
Organisations
International
Campaign to Ban Landmines
Women Physicians for Human Rights – Georgia (e-mail maia959@yahoo.com)
UNDP Georgia
OSCE Georgia
Other links
Report
on small arms in Georgia 1989-2001 (SAS Occasional Paper
#6) from the Small Arms Survey |
