Small Arms, Mass Killing

 
This briefing, published for CAAT's Stop the Arms Trade Week in 2001, examines how the trade in small arms fuels conflict and destruction around the globe.
Despite paying lip-service to the idea of controlling the flow of small arms, Britain continues to fuel the trade by exporting small arms and, more shockingly, small arms production equipment to countries who themselves export small arms with apparently little or no compunction.
In addition, the briefing shows that children doubly suffer from the scourge of small arms. Primarily, they are all too often the victims. However, children themselves are also pressed into service as armed combatants as they can carry and use the relatively lightweight small arms.
Finally, in the run up to the UN Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms in July 2001, the briefing suggests what groups and individuals can do to ensure the best outcome for children and other victims of the trade in small arms around the world.

Introduction

In modern armed conflicts the vast majority of casualties are not soldiers or armed combatants but innocent civilians, with about 40% of the victims being children. Around 90% of casualties are caused not by weapons of mass destruction, expensive fighter aircraft or heavily armoured tanks, but by relatively unsophisticated small arms and light weapons (SALW).

Whilst there continues to be some debate at governmental level about the exact definition of small arms and light weapons, most NGOs define them as including such weapons as assault rifles, machine guns, handguns, grenade launchers, landmines, rocket launchers, light mortars, and anti-tank or anti-aircraft guns. Although accurate information is difficult to obtain, evidence suggests that the quantity of small arms circulating in the world is enormous. Estimates suggest that there may be about 500 million military small arms and light weapons, in addition to many hundreds of millions of guns designed for police forces or for civilian use in circulation. In some countries, such as Mozambique and the United States, there are probably as many firearms as there are people, or more. Currently the market in sub-Saharan Africa is so glutted with the Russian-designed AK-47 that on the black market they can be exchanged for a chicken, traded for a sack of corn, or purchased for as little as $6.

Where Do Small Arms Come From?

Whilst governments tend to blame the proliferation of small arms on private arms smugglers and "rogue" suppliers such as insurgent groups or drug traffickers, they themselves are by far the most important source. The United States and the former Soviet Union in particular have spread arms of all calibre across the planet. The UK has also exported huge amounts of small arms. In 1999 alone, the last year for which figures are available, the British Government issued almost 1000 export licences for consignments of small arms.¹ The number of weapons in each consignment is not disclosed.

In 1999, close to 400 companies in 64 countries were manufacturing small arms and light weapons - a 20% increase in the number since the mid 1990s. Whilst almost all arms start as being 'legal', given the plethora of legal and illegal trading networks for small arms, once the weapons are produced, and sold, there is virtually no telling under whose control they will end up. In fact, often the original suppliers have come to be haunted by a boomerang effect, with weapons intended for friendly recipients often falling into the hands of adversaries. Because small arms are long-lived, they may stay in circulation for decades.

Since the end of the Cold War much of the excess equipment of the main protagonists has been given away or sold cheaply to other countries. And weapons left over at the end of civil wars often enter the black market and resurface in new hotspots as big parts of government armies and insurgent forces are demobilised.

How Small Arms Destabilise

Although weapons are often acquired to provide a sense of security, the outcome may be the exact opposite. If security - for a state, a community, or an individual - is to be obtained by reliance on fire-power, then one can never have enough of it. In other words, the more heavily armed a society is, the more insecure and unstable it becomes.

Spending precious economic resources on weapons also leads to further destabilisation and the deterioration of civil structures. In the case of Angola, the government mortgaged seven years of their oil sales to pay for small arms in their civil war, while Rwanda mortgaged the country's tea sales to purchase weapons in their bloody internal conflict. In Somalia, clan groups dug up all of the city's piping and took down all the electric wire in Mogadishu to finance their supply of small arms.

Within a country or region, great quantities of these cheap, plentiful, durable, simple to use, and easily transportable weapons often contribute to the initiation of violent conflict. When small arms are in abundance, disagreeing parties can undertake military action and violence with much greater ease and are less likely to pursue alternative methods of conflict resolution than when access to small arms is limited. As actor Michael Douglas, a UN Peace Messenger, put it, "Bullets replace ballots as the solution to political disputes." The presence of small arms can thus spark cycles of violence that upset a country's social, economic, and political security for years.²

The proliferation of small arms within society poses a particular challenge for countries emerging from long years of debilitating warfare. These countries are striving to escape a culture of violence and consolidate a hard-won peace that still rests on shaky foundations. Demobilised ex-combatants in particular face an uphill struggle because most of them have little civilian experience. Often, they may be tempted to turn to banditry. In addition, the widespread availability of small arms can erode negotiated peace settlements, hamper conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction, thereby perpetuating insecurity and instability, as well as undermining the basis for sustainable development.

The Impact On Children

The terrible impact that small arms and light weapons have on children is undeniable. As Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF has put it, "Small arms have probably extinguished more young lives than they have ever protected." Each year thousands of children are killed by small arms and light weapons all over the world. However, millions more suffer from the indirect consequences. Graca Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela and co-founder of the Global Movement for Children, stated in a recent report that "most children who have suffered direct attacks by light weapons or who have witnessed such attacks experience emotional trauma. As a result, children may suffer from developmental delays, learning difficulties, serious depression and, in the worst circumstances, suicide."³

Small arms present another difficulty in that their relative light weight allows children to carry and use them. As a result, many children around the world have been pressed into military service against their will and forced to bear small arms in various conflicts.

As Olara Otunnu, The UN Secretary General's special representative for children and conflict put it recently,

"It is the availability of small arms and light weapons which can turn disagreement into war, and it is the children who first suffer the effects of these weapons. They are stripped of their childhood by trauma, displacement and bereavement; their potential is stunted by the disrupted access to food health care and education. Many are forced to live on the streets, growing up in a culture of violence. But perhaps most monstrous of all, they are often forced into roles as combatants themselves."⁴
 

Small Arms Production equipment exported by Britain 1997-99

 
The UK and the Small Arms Trade

Over the last couple of years the Government and, in particular, the Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, has been highlighting the impact of small arms on civilians around the world. In the most recent Annual Report on arms exports, for instance, the Government stated that it was "firmly committed to national and international measures that will prevent the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons (SALW)"⁵ More recently, at a governmental conference to prepare for the UN Small Arms conference taking place in July 2001, Robin Cook, stated that:

"the proliferation of small arms contributes to conflict on every inhabited continent. Ready access to small arms provides the means and the temptation to start conflicts and it fuels the tensions and suspicion which sustains conflict."⁶

Robin Cook went on to highlight three areas where 'effort' was need. Firstly, he suggested that the legal trade in small arms needs to be controlled more effectively. Secondly, he argued that the international community need to "stamp out" the illegal trade in small arms. And finally, he proposed that there was a need to reduce the overall number of small arms in the world, by disarming and deactivating weapons when conflicts ended.

All these measure are commendable and CAAT support them all. However, behind the scenes Britain is not doing all it can to end the small arms trade. Far from it. Whilst the Foreign Secretary is publicly arguing for stricter controls on small arms exports, Britain quietly continues to export small arms and even more shockingly, the means to set up small arms production lines. In other words, even as Robin Cook is telling an international gathering that "small arms have been the basic method of mass killing over the past decade," Britain is at the same time supplying small arms production equipment (see table below) to countries such as Pakistan, Singapore and Malaysia to establish themselves as producers and exporters of the very same "mass killing" equipment. Below, we examine how Britain is fuelling the trade in small arms in Pakistan.

Pakistan: A Case Study

Despite international condemnation of Pakistan's human rights record, regardless of the serious conflict between India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir, and in spite of the serious nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan, Britain has supplied weapons and small arms production equipment to Pakistan.

In October 1999, the elected government was overthrown in a coup by a British-trained General, Pervez Musharraf. The coup brought widespread condemnation and has almost turned Pakistan into a pariah state. Immediately after the coup, Britain put a block on arms sales to Pakistan, however, these were lifted - much to the disgust of many Labour MPs and others - within a few short months.

Although Pakistan has slowly been developing its own arms production capability since the l980s, since the coup has taken place, General Musharraff has decreed that Pakistan should be a major regional producer and exporter of arms. According to an article in Jane's Defence Review, senior Pakistan officials are determined that Pakistan will be "a significant regional arms exporter ... targeting countries seeking low-to-medium technology weapons."⁷ These 'low technology weapons' no doubt include general purpose machine guns and assault rifles produced on the machinery that Britain exported to Pakistan just before the coup.

In 2000, the military-led Government set up a 'defence export bureau' and held its first arms fair entitled "IDEAS 2000" (logo: 'Arms for Peace'), attended by 34 different countries.⁸ At the exhibition, the leader of the military government, General Musharraff called for "aggressive marketing" by the new state-owned arms industry to increase its arms exports. Asked by journalists about which countries they wouldn't sell to, the show organiser, Major General Ali Hamed said they had no ban on selling arms to specific countries. "I don't think we have a problem on that score ... Maybe Israel." He said, obviously struggling to come up with a specific country.

Licensed To Kill

Another way that small arms proliferate around the world is through licensed production. In such deals a company in one country will authorise the production of its weapons by a company in another country for a price. The licensing company will provide technical data and sometimes machine tools for the weapons to be produced.⁹ Weapons produced under these agreements by UK companies are not subject to UK controls and licensed production can, in fact, be see as a way of avoiding UK arm export controls.

Again looking at Pakistan, Heckler & Koch (H&K), a subsidiary of BAE Systems has several licensed productions agreements with Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF). Although these were almost certainly arranged before BAE Systems took over Heckler & Koch in 1991, as Oxfam pointed out in its report on licensed production, BAE Systems are "surely responsible for the agreements where the company is still receiving financial or related benefits from that production."¹⁰

Ammunition from Heckler & Koch small arms produced by Pakistan under licensed production arrangements with H&K have been found by Oxfam staff in Sudan. As Oxfam stated, "the fact that the arms and ammunition were supplied from Pakistan to Sudan - a country continuously at war since 1983 with at least 1.5 million lives lost - graphically highlights the need to bring licensed production agreements under much tighter control." Sudan, it should also be remembered is under an EU embargo.

After a lot of campaigning by CAAT, Oxfam, and other organisations, the government is proposing to introduce legislation to attempt to regulate the re-export of weapons produced under licensed production arrangements. However, pressure is still needed to ensure that this loophole is closed and not just narrowed.

Conclusions

We have seen in this short briefing that despite the fact that the Government acknowledges the negative effects of small arms, it continues to license the export of the weapons. In addition, the government continues to support the export of small arms production equipment which inevitable leads to further small arms proliferation.

The trade in small arms has little or no redeeming qualities. Study after study has shown that the proliferation of small arms in society leads to destabilisation, conflict and the killing of innocent civilians, including children. Time and time again, children are paying the price for our continued involvement in the arms trade.

Whilst CAAT welcomes Robin Cook's strong statements on the negative effect of the trade in small arms, words are only just the beginning. The Campaign Against Arms Trade calls on Robin Cook and other members of the Government to end the export of small arms and in particular, to end the export of small arms production equipment. In the immediate future, the government should ensure that proposed legislation on export controls includes strong controls on licensed production, ensuring that arms produced under these deal come under British export controls. Indeed, if re-elected, the Government should include the proposed legislation in the Queens Speech and ensure that it gets urgent attention.

With regard to the UN Small Arms Conference taking place in July, CAAT calls on the Foreign Secretary to attend in person and to take a lead in the movement to end the small arms trade. In particular, the conference must take a broad look at the trade and have a comprehensive understanding of the trade in small arms and not just confine itself to so-called 'illegal' sales.

Given the awful consequences of the small arms trade, there can be no half measures. We must bring an end to this deadly trade.

What You Can Do

Raise Awareness

Stop the Arms Trade Week is a good opportunity to raise awareness about the trade in small arms and its effects - why not organise a public meeting, an exhibition or a street stall? CAAT has plenty of resources including a free pack to help raise awareness of the impact of small arms on children, called Paying The Price.

We are also very happy to provide a speaker for a meeting, either for a background briefing for your peace, human rights group, or for a more public meeting. If you would like a speaker, please contact us, preferably well in advance, but we may be able to help at short notice.

Other ways to raise awareness include writing to the local press; holding a Church service (ask for our Day of Prayer materials); or simply raising the issue in conversation.

Protest!

Although the exact number of small arms producers is not known, it is estimated that there are about 120 companies involved in the trade in the UK. Weapons produced by these companies are exported all over the world and do untold amounts of damage.

If you are interested in holding a protest or vigil at a small arms company, contact CAAT for details of your nearest site. We can also help you contact your local media, both press and local TV.

Write a letter!

Ask your MP (House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA) to raise the issue of the small arms trade with the Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook. (It is best to go via your MP as Robin Cook is then obliged to respond). Use this briefing as the basis of your letter, asking that the government does its utmost to ensure that children are no longer paying the price for Britain's involvement in the arms trade.

Support CAAT

CAAT works to end the arms trade to prevent the kind of mass killing that Robin Cook talks about. To enable CAAT's work to continue, we need your support. Why not subscribe to CAAT news, or simply send us a donation? (See reply slip overleaf).

If you feel able to contribute more time to the Campaign, we are looking for people to be CAAT Local Contacts. If you are interested, please contact Chris Cole at the CAAT office.

Notes

1. Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 1999 (published summer 2000)
2. Small Arms and Their Trade, The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, 2000
3. Gracha Machel, The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children: A Critical review, September 2000.
4. Presentation by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, at Second Preparatory Committee for UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms
5. Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 1999 (published summer 2000)
6. Speech by Robin Cook, Regulating and Reducing Small Arms, 13th February 2001
7. 'Pakistan sets up export bureau to boost sales', Jane's Defence Weekly , 29th November 2000
8. The Guardian, 7th November 2000
9. See Pete Able 'Manufacturing Trends, Globalising The Source' in Running Guns: The Global Black Market in Small Arms, Ed. Lora Lumpe, London: Zed Books, 2000
10. Oxfam, Out of Control: The Loopholes in UK Controls of the Arms Trade, 1998
11. Lora Lumpe, 'A New Approach to the Small Arms Trade', Arms Control Today, January 2001