Small arms - big challenge: Can Southern Africa show the way for the 2001 UN conference?

Andrew McLean
Saferworld ISS Liaison Officer

Published in African Security Review Vol 9 No 2, 2000

INTRODUCTION

Unprecedented international attention is now focused on the need to tackle the proliferation of small arms and light weapons. The spread and misuse of these portable weapons — handguns, machine guns, grenade launchers and mortars — are two fundamental factors exacerbating conflict, fuelling crime, increasing instability and undermining development across the world. Nowhere is the devastating impact of these arms felt more than in Africa.

The United Nations has convened an international conference on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects in 2001. This conference has the potential to play a critical role in galvanising international action to tackle one of the greatest contemporary humanitarian and security challenges. But it could equally prove to be little more than a talkshop with serious action frustrated by national political agendas. Initiatives under way in Southern Africa could provide an important model to try and ensure that the UN conference yields maximum benefit.

DEVELOPING THE 2001 AGENDA


The conference agenda is currently being debated. If the conference is to fulfil its potential, it is vital that it thoroughly addresses all aspects of illicit small arms-trafficking. For example, there will be pressure from a number of countries to define illicit trafficking narrowly so that the legal small arms trade and domestic gun ownership are not discussed. This would severely limit the conference’s value as there is extensive evidence that much of the ‘illicit’ traffic in arms originates as ‘legally’ transferred or licenced weapons. Seemingly legitimate transfers are diverted to irresponsible end-users, or legally licenced firearms are stolen and enter the illicit market.

There may also be moves to make the focus of the conference the agreement of a legal treaty addressing a particular aspect of the small arms trade. While a worthy objective, there is a danger that such a move could again narrow the agenda and distract the attention from the comprehensive approach which is required to combat the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons effectively in all its aspects.

Although parallels have been drawn between the successful international campaign to ban landmines and the growing international movement to combat small arms, there are fundamental differences between the issues. Landmines are indiscriminate killers of which the injurious effect far outweighs any possible military utility. Banning them was possible because they have no legitimate function. Small arms and light weapons, however, present a much more complicated challenge. Few people would argue that they cannot have a legitimate use. All states have the right to self-defence enshrined in the UN Charter and small arms are essential tools for responsible and accountable militaries. The problem comes with their uncontrolled proliferation, illicit trafficking, destabilising accumulation and misuse. Tackling this problem requires a comprehensive, nuanced and mutually reinforcing set of initiatives at the international, regional, subregional, national and local level.

To be effective, the conference needs to develop joint strategies for the prevention, management and reduction of flows. This will require action to strengthen legal controls over weapons transfer and accumulation, combat illicit trafficking, remove weapons from circulation and address the wider development and criminal justice issues which fuel the demand for arms.

Recent initiatives in Southern Africa could highlight the way forward. A comprehEnsive action programme to tackle the proliferation and illicit trafficking of small arms in Southern Africa has been agreed to by all European Union (EU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. A similar initiative is also under discussion in the East Africa region and in the Horn of Africa. The EU-SADC action programme provides an important potential model because it includes a series of measures to be taken by governments in both regions. It therefore indicates a feasible and effective means of north-south co-operation to tackle the scourge of small arms and it is precisely this which the UN conference needs to develop.

It is vital that the UN conference builds on regional experiences and initiatives and takes a comprehensive approach. The agreement of an international action programme, based on the Southern Africa model and building on the proposals of the UN group of experts, should be the key objective of the conference. The UN has already set a valuable precedent for building on such regional initiatives. The Inter-American convention against the illicit manufacture, traffic, sale and transfer of firearms, ammunition, explosives and other related materials, agreed to by the Organisation of American States in 1997, was the building block for the development of the UN Draft protocol against the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition and other related materials, which is expected to be adopted in Vienna before the end of the year.

This article surveys the history of initiatives to combat the proliferation and illicit trafficking of small arms internationally, the particular progress made in Southern Africa, and the unique partnerships which have developed between SADC and the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO), and SADC and the EU. These provide important experiences and building blocks for the development of a comprehensive international approach, and they indicate a number of lessons which could help ensure that any international programme is effectively implemented.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT


International attention has only fairly recently begun to turn to the need to control small arms. Arms control discussions had traditionally focused on weapons of mass destruction. But, while nuclear, chemical and biological weapons are a huge potential danger, it is small arms which are the weapons actually causing ‘mass destruction’ in the world today.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the former UN Secretary-General, highlighted the problems caused by small arms in a supplement to his Agenda for peace in 1995. He introduced the term ‘micro-disarmament’ and called for "practical disarmament in the context of the conflicts the UN is actually dealing with and of the weapons, most of them light weapons, that are actually killing people in the hundreds of thousands."1

The UN General Assembly requested the Secretary-General in 1995 to prepare a report with the assistance of qualified governmental experts on:
"(a) The types of small arms and light weapons actually being used in conflicts being dealt with by the UN; (b) the nature and causes of the excessive and destabilising accumulation and transfer of small arms and light weapons, including their illicit production and trade; (c) The ways and means to prevent and reduce the excessive and destabilising accumulation and transfer of small arms and light weapons in particular as they cause or exacerbate conflict."2
This report was published in 1997 and included a number of important recommendations. The international nature of the report was its strength, but it was also clear that, in most cases, progress was most likely at national and subregional levels.

EUROPE BEGINS TO ACT


The EU was one of the first regions in the world actually to agree on a series of measures to try and prevent illicit arms trafficking. In June 1997, member states agreed on an EU Programme for preventing and combating illicit trafficking in conventional arms.3 Essentially a framework for action, the programme mandates member states to take action in three areas:
  • preventing illicit trafficking from the EU;
  • providing assistance to affected countries to build the capacity of police, customs and immigration authorities; and
  • establishing measures to reduce the number of arms in circulation through weapons collection, buy-back and destruction programmes.
As with all such agreements, however, the challenge was implementation. There was a unique opportunity for progress in tackling small arms proliferation with increasing recognition in Southern Africa of the need to address the problem, and growing international will to turn technical agreements into practical action.

EU-SADC ACTION PROGRAMME


Two non-governmental organisations, the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa and Saferworld in the United Kingdom saw this opportunity and organised a meeting near Johannesburg in May 1998 that brought together government officials from EU and SADC countries to discuss a possible common approach to the issue.

The result was a draft Southern Africa regional action programme on light arms and illicit trafficking.4 This groundbreaking document outlines the need for action by Southern African governments, and possible support for this by EU governments, in four areas:

Combating illicit trafficking:
  • strengthening laws and regulations to combat illicit arms trafficking;
  • strengthening operational capacity to combat illicit trafficking;
  • improving systems to trace illicit arms flows; and
  • improving information exchange.
Strengthening legal controls on accumulations and transfers of arms:
  • strengthening controls over the civilian possession of firearms;
  • enhancing regulations and controls over the accumulation and transfer of light arms and associated military equipment; and
  • improving capacity to monitor and trace light arms possession and transfers.
Promoting the removal of arms from society and the destruction of surplus arms:
  • collecting and destroying surplus military arms;
  • emoving confiscated and unlicenced weapons from circulation;
  • conducting voluntary weapons collection and exchange programmes; and
  • reversing cultures of violence.
Enhancing transparency, information exchange and consultation on arms:
  • enhancing public transparency; and
  • improving information exchange and consultation between governments.
The action programme was subsequently endorsed by EU and SADC government ministers at their summit in Vienna in November 1998. It is now the framework for all action to tackle illicit trafficking and the proliferation of small arms in Southern Africa. It is a unique region-to-region agreement through which technical and financial assistance can be channelled.

GOVERNMENTS AND POLICE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA MOVE QUICKLY


Once the dynamic of action on small arms in Southern Africa started, it began to generate its own momentum. An important relationship has developed between SARPCCO and SADC which has begun to create an effective division of labour. Working in tandem, SADC and SARPCCO can ensure that operational activities are supported by political commitment and that the development and law enforcement aspects of the small arms problem are addressed.

At their annual general meeting in Swaziland in July 1998, regional police chiefs issued a SARPCCO Declaration on small arms.5 This made combating small arms trafficking a priority issue for the police in Southern African countries and outlined a number of possible steps that ministers would consider, including:
  • prohibitions on civilian possession of automatic and military weapons;
  • co-ordination of procedures for the import, export and transit of small arms shipments, ensuring the registration of all small arms in a country, and, where appropriate, ensuring that proper controls are exercised over the manufacture of small arms to prevent their entrance into the illicit market; and
  • promoting the destruction of surplus arms.
The declaration also commits SARPCCO to initiate discussions on drafting a regional instrument on small arms.

This was followed in August 1999 by a decision at the SADC summit in Maputo to establish a SADC working group on small arms and make SARPCCO the implementing agency of SADC policy in this area.6 The members of the SADC working group are Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland (chair), Zambia and Zimbabwe, the SADC secretariat and the SARPCCO secretariat. They were tasked to formulate the SADC policy on small arms and develop a programme for implementation at the regional level.

The SADC working group met for the first time in Botswana in October 1999 and mandated SARPCCO to draft a SADC protocol on small arms and light weapons and a SADC declaration for discussion by the council of ministers in February 2000 and a strategic programme of action to be ready by July 2000. The committee recognised the important role of civil society and urged that it should be involved in both the conceptualisation (drafting) and implementation of the policies and programmes.

EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS READY TO RELEASE DONOR ASSISTANCE


During 1999, a number of important developments in the EU also paved the way for the release of donor assistance to support projects to tackle small arms proliferation in Southern Africa. There has traditionally been a reluctance on the part of development agencies to use aid money for ‘security’ projects. But, there has been an increasing recognition in recent years that security is a prerequisite for development. Indeed, in many instances, development assistance has been unable to be released because of the insecure environment in recipient countries.

In December 1998, EU member states agreed on a Joint action on the EU’s contribution to combating the destabilising accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons.7 This commits EU countries to provide assistance to a range of ‘preventive’ measures (such as combating illicit trafficking and supporting education programmes to reverse cultures of violence) and ‘reactive’ measures (such as collecting and destroying surplus arms and demobilising and reintegrating former combatants).

In May 1999, European development ministers agreed on a Resolution on combating the excessive and uncontrolled accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons as part of the EU’s emergency aid, reconstruction and development programmes.8 This is important because it establishes supporting efforts to tackle small arms proliferation as a necessary and legitimate use of EU development assistance. This should lead to increased funds being available for small arms projects. The SADC region (along with the Economic Community of West African States) is named as a priority area to receive support because a framework for action already exists.

TOWARDS IMPLEMENTATION


Now that mechanisms in both the EU and SADC regions are in place, political pressure is growing to implement the action programme. The ISS and Saferworld organised a seminar for government officials, police chiefs and independent experts from both regions in Pretoria in September 1999 to identify practical projects which donors could support. A significant number of proposals to tackle illicit trafficking, strengthen legal controls over weapons possession and transfer, and remove weapons from society were agreed to in four broad categories:
  • research-based projects;
  • opportunities for operational support;
  • building capacity and expertise in crucial sectors; and
  • raising awareness of the problem of light weapons proliferation.9
In an encouraging sign of intent shortly after the seminar, EU governments agreed to donate Euro 200 000 (approximately US $200 000) to the South Africa-Mozambique Operations Rachel weapons collection and destruction initiative.10

Senior government officials have also recently established a joint SADC-EU working group on small arms. This should provide an important forum to enable co-ordination between the two regions of efforts to tackle the spread of small arms in Southern Africa. The working group will address areas such as institutional capacity-building, training and financial assistance. Its first meeting is scheduled for June 2000 in Brussels.

In advance of this, the Portuguese government has asked Saferworld and the ISS to organise a large seminar for government officials, police chiefs and NGOs from both regions to discuss national and regional needs in Southern Africa to implement the action programme. A key topic will be the creation of a mechanism to evaluate the suitability of different project proposals for funding and to assess how effectively different practical projects are being implemented.

DRAFT SADC FIREARMS PROTOCOL AGREED


The most important practical project so far to implement the action programme in Southern Africa has been the drafting of a SADC protocol on firearms control. This draft legal treaty has been developed by the SARPCCO legal subcommittee, which consists of legal officers from national police services in SARPCCO member states. It has met three times in the past four months to agree on a text for the protocol. Two of these meetings have been facilitated by the ISS. Progress has been incredibly fast and the legal subcommittee has now agreed on a comprehensive draft document based largely on the draft UN firearms protocol currently being negotiated in Vienna. But the regional protocol goes further than the UN documents in some areas and, crucially, is a protocol which has emerged from the desires and needs of the region.

The protocol covers issues such as:
  • training to improve the operational capacity of police, customs, border guards and the judiciary;
  • controls over firearms owned by civilians and the state;
  • marking and tracing of firearms;
  • destruction of surplus firearms;
  • weapons collection programme; and
  • education initiatives to reverse cultures of violence.
The draft protocol was endorsed by national police commissioners at a meeting in Botswana in February 2000 and has since been approved by the SADC small arms working group. The protocol was informally discussed by the SADC council of ministers in February and will hopefully be signed at the SADC summit in Agust 2000. If so, Southern Africa will have a groundbreaking legal agreement in place.

LESSONS LEARNED


The history and experiences of developing small arms initiatives in Southern Africa provide a number of lessons which may be important for effective international action.

DEVELOPING A COMPREHENSIVE ACTION PROGRAMME


The only way to address the small arms problem effectively is through the development of an holistic and comprehensive set of initiatives. The Southern Africa action programme provides a model with its broad focus on strengthening legal controls, combating illicit trafficking, removing weapons from society and enhancing transparency and information exchange. There are a series of issue areas which the UN conference must address if is to be effective:
  • introducing international controls (a code of conduct) on weapons transfers through which states must evaluate the legitimacy of a transfer against international human rights standards and humanitarian law;
  • enforcing arms embargoes;
  • controlling the access of non-state actors to weapons;
  • ensuring the effective management and safe storage of weapons stockpiles and the destruction of surplus weapons;
  • marking and tracing of weapons;
  • controlling supplies of ammunition;
  • regulating arms brokering and shipping agents;
  • building the operational capacity of law enforcement agencies to implement controls over illicit trafficking;
  • developing guidelines for donor governments and international financial institutions to support small arms initiatives through a proportional and integrated approach to security and development;
  • reforming the security sector and promoting the development of responsible and accountable security forces that respect human rights;
  • working with communities to remove weapons from circulation in society;
  • developing mechanisms to improve transparency and information exchange; and
  • prioritising the effective disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants.

INVOLVING THE POLICE

One of the main factors underlying the success of initiatives in Southern Africa has been the leading role played by the police. As the law enforcement agency most regularly confronted with the consequences of the spread of small arms, the police often have a good understanding of the problem, as well as the operational mandate to tackle it. The involvement of people with practical operational experience in the UN conference may be critical to its success. It is the police, military, customs and border guards who will have to implement many of the agreements reached in 2001. It is vital that any programmes that are agreed to are implementable and it is therefore important that law enforcement agencies are involved in their development. At the minimum, countries should organise national or subregional consultations to involve these practitioners.

The police in Southern Africa have played a leading role in breaking down the barriers of suspicion and distrust which existed between many countries (many, of course, were previously at war with one another). The leading forum here has been SARPCCO. Its secretariat is based at the Interpol subregional bureau in Harare, Zimbabwe. Interpol, as the only international body for police co-operation, also has a key role to play in the 2001 conference. Its subregional bureaux around the world could be important loci of co-ordination in the implementation of an international action programme.

THE ROLE OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS


Another factor which has helped to advance small arms initiatives in Southern Africa has been the close working relationship which has developed between SARPCCO, SADC and NGOs, particularly the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa and Saferworld in the UK. The research and original thinking of NGOs can be very useful to police and governments in highlighting issues which need to be addressed, comparing best practice in controlling small arms in different regions of the world, and making practical proposals for policy change. In this way, NGOs can help to build the capacity of the police and governments to address the small arms issue.

NGOs also have a key role to play in organising forums where those people who play the key roles in small arms control at a national and regional level can come together to discuss common approaches to the challenges which they face. And because of the good relations some NGOs have with donor governments, they can often financially support these meetings.

Many development, humanitarian and community NGOs also have valuable practical experience to offer. They spend their lives coping with the consequences of the proliferation of small arms and are important partners in any comprehensive attempt to address the problem.

This constructive relationship between NGOs and governments has been dubbed ‘the new diplomacy’ by some. It certainly has played a critical role in some progressive recent international achievements — the agreement of the Ottawa treaty banning anti-personnel mines, the establishment of an International Criminal Court and the decision to add an optional protocol to the Convention on the rights of the child, outlawing military conscription for children under 18 years of age.

It is particularly disappointing, therefore, that some governments seem determined to prevent the close involvement of NGOs in the UN 2001 conference. This is currently the subject of heated debate. A newly-formed NGO alliance — the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) — will play an important role in briefing governments and co-ordinating NGO activity on the fringes of the conference, but it is unclear whether they will have any formal role to play. The involvement of NGOs may be crucial to an effective outcome.

AVAILABILITY OF RESOURCES


Many of the measures necessary to combat the proliferation and illicit trafficking of small arms effectively require resources. And, of course, many parts of the world where the problem is most acute suffer both from a lack of financial and material resources, but also from a lack of capacity and expertise to address the issue. The Southern Africa action programme could again provide a model because one of its important aspects is that it has been agreed with donor governments and outlines a number of areas where financial and technical assistance would be valuable.

It is important that countries have the capacity to implement any programme of action agreed to at the UN conference. In return for a political agreement to take action, donor governments must be prepared to enter into genuine partnerships to meet the small arms challenge. It would be a tragedy if the 2001 conference was to agree on an impressive range of initiatives which were to come to nothing a few years down the line because of a lack of resources to sustain the necessary action. Designated resources to ensure the implementation of an action programme are vital.

POLITICAL WILL


The fundamental issue which could frustrate comprehensive international action is lack of political will. In most Southern African countries there does seem to be a genuine desire for action. Because the Southern Africa action programme is a political agreement — not a legal one — no governments are legally bound by its provisions. But the fact that it has been agreed to at such a high political level means that there is now considerable pressure and desire to implement it. And the agreement of the action programme has led to the agreement of the draft regional firearm protocol which will be legally binding.

Attention spans can be short, however, in international politics. There is a danger that, once the galvanising effect of the 2001 conference has gone, governments may become absorbed in the next pressing challenge and small arms will recede back into the crevices of the international agenda.

It is therefore vital that the UN conference is seen as the start, and not the end of a process. This is a key reason why it is important that countries agree to a comprehensive action programme. This should map out a series of initiatives that the international community, regional and subregional organisations and governments could take. And the precedent of the UN conferences on the environment should be built upon with firm targets set for action by member states in specific areas.

It is important that the conference puts in place follow-up mechanisms to monitor the implementation of agreements and evaluate progress to ensure that whatever is agreed to does not just sit on the shelf. The UN environment conferences could again provide a model. Member states convened a Rio +5 conference to assess the progress that had been made in meeting targets on issues such as reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. A similar follow-up conference on small arms is vital to keep small arms on the international agenda, measure achievements and provide a spur to further action.

PROSPECTS


The 2001 UN conference will be a litmus test of the international community’s will and ability to tackle the proliferation and illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons. It provides an unprecedented opportunity to agree to a progressive but practical approach to this pressing humanitarian and security challenge. Recent progress in Southern Africa offers a possible model which could help to ensure that this opportunity is seized. The international community now needs to summon the resources and the political will to make it happen. It is time to bite the bullet.

NOTES


This article also appears in V Gamba (ed), Governing Arms: The Southern African experience, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, 2000.
  1. B Boutros-Ghali, Position paper by the Secretary-General on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, GA A/50/60, 1995.
  2. UN General Assembly resolution 50/70B (1995)
  3. Text included in A McLean & E Clegg (ed), Towards implementation of the Southern Africa regional action programme on light arms and illicit trafficking, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, 1999, pp 89-92.
  4. Ibid, pp 71-85.
  5. Ibid, pp 113-114.
  6. Ibid, pp 110-111.
  7. Ibid, pp 99-106.
  8. Ibid, pp 106-109.
  9. For full list of proposals see ibid, pp 59-66.
  10. For details of the history and success of these operations see M Chachiua, Arms management programme: Operations Rachel 1996-1999, ISS Monograph 38, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, June 1999.