IANSA Update 12 September 2008

Armed violence costs at least $93 billion each year, excluding cost of wars
Venezuela: Mark ammunition to prevent diversion
ATT Week of Action in 60+ countries
PNG small arms disposal programme completed
Turkey: Rally for stronger gun laws
Other news: El Salvador gun seizure; UK ATT event; DRC newsletter; Job in Brussels

Armed violence costs at least $93 billion each year, excluding cost of wars
The global economy loses $95-163 billion each year in productivity lost due to armed violence, according to a new report published by the Geneva Declaration. This figure does not include the direct and indirect costs of wars and similar situations. The report, written by the Small Arms Survey, was launched on 12 September at the Review Summit for the 2006 Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development. Read more here.

Venezuela: Mark ammunition to prevent diversion
A series of articles on ammunition appeared in Venezuela's El Nacional newspaper last week, with a focus on the potential diversion of ammunition from police and military stockpiles into the illicit market. The government has proposed construction of a Kalashnikov ammunition factory during 2009. The articles quote Amnesty International and César Marín of IANSA stressing that military and police ammunition must be adequately marked to discourage diversion. Read more here, here and here.

ATT Week of Action in 60+ countries
The Week of Action on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is 13-19 September! Control Arms events are being held in over 60 countries. If you have an event planned for the ATT Week of Action or would like to become involved, please email bruce.millar@iansa.org. An important new report from Amnesty International (AI), 'Blood at the Crossroads' will be launched on 17 September. Please contact your national AI office if you want to promote the report in your media. Information on events can be found here.
List of AI offices.

PNG small arms disposal programme completed
A significant portion of Papua New Guinea's military arsenal was destroyed between 2003 and 2006 during a program to dispose of surplus guns and ammunition, according to Philip Alpers of the University of Sydney. The program disposed of over 7,400 military small arms and related items. The Alpers study appears in a special issue of the journal Contemporary Security Policy devoted to small arms control. Other articles focus on Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania and Germany. Read more here.

Turkey: Rally for stronger gun laws
IANSA members from Scotland attended the annual rally for stronger gun laws in Izmir (Turkey) on 10 September. David Grimason, whose baby son was shot dead during a family holiday in Turkey in 2003, was accompanied by relatives of the Scottish children who were murdered at Dunblane primary school in 1996. They carried a large banner under the IANSA name.

Other news

• Police in El Salvador seized military weapons and ammunition from armed gang members on 4 September. The four assault rifles and an anti-tank rocket launcher were seized from members of the Mara Salvatrucha, one of the two biggest gangs in El Salvador. Police suspect the gang may have planned to use the anti-tank weapon to attack a government building or break open a prison. Some 5000 of Mara Salvatrucha's 16,000 members are currently in prison. Military weapons are increasingly becoming available to criminal gangs, according to IANSA member Médicos Salvadoreños para la Responsabilidad Social.
• The UK government promoted the Arms Trade Treaty to British defence manufacturers and civil society at a meeting in London on 9 September. The IANSA slogan '1000 gun deaths each day' was widely used during the meeting, which was chaired by the UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
  
• IANSA Women's Network member RODHECIC has published its July-August review of media reports on armed violence in DR Congo.
• Brussels-based research institute GRIP is seeking a researcher. More information on the IANSA Job Board.
  

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