In the preamble to the Programme of Action,
States expressed their concern over the “wide range of humanitarian and
socio-economic consequences” and the “implications
that poverty and underdevelopment may have for the illicit
trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects.”
These devastating human consequences are felt most deeply at
the community level. It is at the community level, too, where
much of the work to alleviate small arms-inflicted suffering
takes place. This work offers many lessons that should inform
action at the national, regional, and global level. In turn,
efforts at the community level must be matched by action at the
national, regional, and international level. This presentation
will address the public health, humanitarian, and development
dimensions of small arms, with special attention to the situation
of people forced from their homes.
Weapons availability and misuse continues to extract an unacceptable
human cost from communities. An estimated 500,000 people die
each year at the barrel of a gun in war zones, as well as in ‘peaceful’ areas.
Countless more people are wounded, physically or emotionally,
through the use of these weapons. While not necessarily the direct
cause of conflict, the easy availability of weapons intensifies
the severity of violence and increases the number of victims.
The prevalence and misuse of guns undermines sustainable development,
good governance and respect for human rights.
The crisis of weapons availability and misuse has direct and
indirect impacts on human security. In the last two years, NGOs
have been uncovering more evidence about the scale of the problem.
We have begun to offer solutions. This presentation will highlight
some of this information and contextualise the reason why we
are gathered here this week: to work together to reduce the death,
injury and insecurity caused by arms availability.
Public Health
The impact of armed violence on public health is enormous. For
example:
· Firearms are the leading cause
of fatal injuries for South Africans over the age of 14.
· In the United States, 28,000 people a year are killed by small
arms.
· Firearms are the primary cause of death of young men in Rio de
Janeiro.
An unknown percentage of the 200,000 people that are killed
every year in countries not at war die either due to intentional
homicides, suicide or accidents. We hear of four year olds all
over the world picking up a gun and shooting it randomly with
tragic consequences. A week ago today families and friends of
people in towns in Germany and the US were shocked by the senseless
mass shootings in a school and workplace.
Armed violence kills people. But non-fatal injuries are also
devastating, and they are costly in both human and economic terms.
In Canada, costs of gun-related injuries are estimated at US$5
billion per year. Experts estimate the cost of the impact of
small arms in Latin America at 14% of gross domestic product
(GDP) and 25% of GDP in Colombia. The social costs cannot be
measured: but women, especially, are paying them because they
have to take care of those who are injured or disabled by small
arms. The rehabilitation of people injured and disabled by small
arms is costly, both in terms of physical health and in terms
of the psychological consequences to those who are directly and
indirectly hurt by small arms.
Small arms misuse interrupts the delivery of health services,
with life-threatening consequences, including the depletion of
local blood supplies, as well as the disruption of humanitarian
aid. Gunshot wounds require intensive medical treatment and divert
scarce resources from prevention and other diseases.
In Iraq,
we are witnessing the costs of unsecured weapons and ammunition
to medical services. Doctors at a hospital in Kirkuk
reported that for several days after the city fell, they were
treating up to seventy patients a day, most of them civilians
suffering from weapons-related injuries. As in so many other
conflict zones, among the victims were children who played with
ammunition and explosives stored in homes, schools, and other
sites in residential areas.
Humanitarian Impacts
Many of the estimated 20 million people who are refugees and
displaced people were forced to move at the barrel of a gun.
They continue to be threatened by guns during their flight
or when they finally make it to refugee camps.
But refugee camps themselves are becoming war zones. Armed gangs
inside the camps use refugees as hostages. Sexual violence is
rampant. Camps are targeted by armed forces and people are abducted
to serve in irregular armies. Civilians in the camps sometimes
take up arms because they think this will protect them, but in
reality, they are entrenching cultures of violence and fuelling
the demand for weapons.
Development
The relationship between small arms and under-development is
complex. Small arms availability and misuse prevents sustainable
development, but poverty often increases the demand for weapons.
Foreign direct investment often ceases when armed violence is
reported. Development projects are also undermined by violence:
programmes stopped in Liberia, Niger and Sierra Leone as soon
as violent conflict broke out. The chaos created by violence
in the immediate post-conflict period is also fertile ground
for organized criminals. It also undermines good governance and
security. The cycle of violence and poverty is hard to break.
Vulnerable populations are also affected in different ways.
The Programme of Action recognizes that children suffer devastating
consequences from the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.
They are both the victims and the perpetrators of armed violence
whether they roam the streets of Rio for survival, work as soldiers
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are caught in the crossfire
between warring parties in Aceh in Indonesia, or suffer violence
in the home.
The death and injury of their primary care-givers often dramatically
weakens family structures and can lead to the forced separation
of children from their remaining family members. Additionally,
because of armed violence, the right to education is often denied
to children.
Children witnessing or living under the threat of sustained
gun violence can suffer life long trauma. What they see can set
the stage for their decision to become a combatant at an early
age, or take up a life based on the rule of the gun.
Only two weeks ago in Northern Uganda, 100 schoolgirls
were abducted at gunpoint from their school. They are some of
the
most tragic representatives of a generation whose lives
have
been shattered by guns.
A focus on children and young people should turn the spotlight onto prevention
programmes, make us think ever more clearly about how to reduce the factors
that lead young people to take up weapons, and protect them from the impacts
of such weapons. Livelihoods and education for young people are essential means
to stop them from joining armed groups for survival.
Women
Children received only a brief mention in the Programme of Action,
but the attention given to women was even less. Yet small arms
have devastating impacts on women’s rights.
Every day, in every part of the world,
women are shot, traumatised, intimidated, enslaved, robbed
and raped at gunpoint. It makes
little difference to the victims whether “illicit” arms
or legally-held weapons are used in these attacks.
The damage that women suffer at the point
of a gun is disproportionate to their role as owners or users
of weapons. Women often become
strategic targets, suffering rape and sexual abuse in conflict
and post conflict zones. For example, a 2002 study in Sierra
Leone, revealed that 94 per cent reported one or more human rights
abuse and 13 per cent reported some war-related sexual violence.
Nearly 40 per cent indicated that they were worried about future
sexual violence to themselves or family members at the hands
of “non-combatants”, - reinforcing the fact that
risks to women are not confined to wartime.
Women cannot simply be seen as the victims of conflicts: they
also participate as combatants, and in support roles providing
information, food, clothing and shelter. Whether willingly or
not, they bear the long-term burden of caring for the sick and
injured. With the adult male populations absent or greatly diminished,
women often become the main provider for their families during
and after conflict.
A number of open Security Council meetings
on country situations and thematically focused debates, as
well as internal UN processes
and documents, have identified the need for disarmament, demobilization
and reintegration to actively include women. It has been increasingly
recognized that women have a great deal to offer in the planning
and execution of weapons collection programmes, and that such
initiatives work better when women are educated and trained to
support them. Without women’s full participation, the Programme
of Action will never be properly implemented.
Since the 2001 Conference, IANSA has begun
to mobilise and organise on the impacts of gun violence on
women. A Women’s Network
is flourishing, and a portal has been established on the IANSA
website with information on women’s work to prevent gun
violence from all over the world. We are working hard to ensue
that the experiences and views of women are adequately represented
in decision-making forums such as this meeting.
Men
Men are overwhelmingly the owners and users of small arms, and
worldwide, young men are the majority of victims of gun violence.
In some regions, owning and using a weapon is a measure of
manhood: a Liberian boy soldier of 9 years old, when asked
how old he was, replied ‘Old enough to kill a man’.
Small arms are strongly associated with cultures of violence
and with notions of masculinity. And as long as men are unable
to find positive, healthy, and non-violent ways to be men, all
our work to prevent small arms violence will be in vain.
Community Based Initiatives
Ultimately the effects of small arms are felt at the community
level and solutions must also engage communities. Over the
past two years we have seen impressive efforts by civil society
organisations collaborating to develop and implement solutions.
For example:
· NGOs have developed awareness
raising campaigns, for example in the Philippines, USA, and
Macedonia.
· NGOs in Brazil effectively mobilized women in a targeted education
campaign.
· NGOs in South African campaigned to strengthen gun laws and worked
with the government to develop gun free zones.
· Community based weapons collection and destruction programmes
have been undertaken in Papua New Guinea, Serbia, Argentina,
the Philippines, Mozambique, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Albania, Mali,
and Cambodia.
· Community groups have worked collaboratively in developing community
based programmes in Malawi, Brazil, Kenya and Canada.
· Community based prevention programmes aimed at addressing the
root causes of violence have been undertaken world wide.
· Community based conflict resolution projects have been undertaken,
for example in Uganda and Kenya.
These are positive examples that show what is
already taking place at community level. Our hope is that these
efforts will
continue and grow over the next few years, giving us even more
to report in 2005. Thank you.
1. Reis, Chen, KH Lyons, B Vann et at (2002), “The
prevalence of war-related sexual violence and other human rights
abuses among internally displaced persons in Sierra Leone.” The
role of public health in the prevention of war-related injuries,
Montreal, Canada, May 9-11.
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