Small Arms

(At present no international instrument dealing specifically with small arms and light weapons proliferation exists. Efforts are, however, being undertaken by the United Nations, regional and sub-regional initiatives (OAU, SADC, OAS, EU), by individual states and non-governmental organisations.)

HISTORY AND PRESENT STATUS

Until recently the disarmament and non-proliferation debate mainly focused on weapons of mass destruction. The issue of small arms and light weapons proliferation was initially focused upon by, among others, the former Secretary General of the United Nations through his Supplement to an Agenda for Peace, 1995, wherein he concentrated on "macro-disarmament". By this he meant practical disarmament in the context of the conflicts the United Nations is actually dealing with and of the weapons, most of them light weapons, that are actually responsible for the deaths of large numbers of civilians and combatants.

Subsequently, initiatives by the UN, individual governments, regional and sub-regional organisations and NGO's have been initiated.

United Nations

In terms of UN general Assembly resolution 53/77E a decision was taken to hold an international conference on the illicit arms trade in all its aspects in the year 2001. A preparatory phase to prepare for this conference will commence in 2000.

OAU

As was the case with the international efforts to ban landmines which ultimately led to the adoption and entry into force of the Mine Ban Treaty, a strong and decisive position by the Organisation for African Unity is crucial to the success of any international initiative to address the problems associated with the proliferation of small arms and light weapons. For this reason, the 1998 OAU Heads of Government meeting, acting on a South African proposal, adopted a decision concerning the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Africa. This decision reiterated the urgency and need for Inter-African Cooperation in the search for solutions to the problems posed by the proliferation of light weapons and stressed the primary role that the OAU should play in the coordination of efforts in this area. At the OAU Assembly of Heads of State and Government held in Algiers, Algeria from 12-14 July 1999 the Summit endorsed the holding of a Continental Conference of African Experts on Small arms in 2000.

SADC

At the SADC Summit held in Maputo (August 1999) South Africa strongly supported a decision by the Council of Ministers to establish a SADC Working Group on small arms to be chaired by Swaziland.

SARPCCO

South Africa has actively supported the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation's (SARPCCO) declaration on small arms which was adopted at its General Conference held in July 1999 in Swaziland. In terms of this declaration SARPCCO will endeavour to negotiate a Southern African instrument on small arms.

NATIONALLY, SOUTH AFRICA

The South African Government has declared the combating of small arms (firearms) proliferation as the South African Police Service's (SAPS) highest priority. A coherent strategy to deal with the proliferation of small arms in South Africa has been developed. The Strategy represents an integral and holistic approach to introduce stricter control measures and to eventually remove the causal factors of small arms into South Africa; to prevent arms in legal possession becoming illegal through theft and robbery; to mop up the existing pool of arms in South Africa and to educate South Africans concerning the possession of arms. A National Firearms Plan is being implemented in terms of this strategy with the objective to reduce the number of illegal small arms in circulation as well as to reduce the flow of illegal weapons into South Africa. It also concentrates efforts to ensure the lawful and proper use of licensed firearms and involves legislative amendments aimed at tightening up the issuing of licences and ensuring that fewer losses occur from legal owners.

In addition, South Africa is committed to a policy of responsibility and accountability in the trade and transfer of all arms. South Africa has established an arms control system which makes provision for a Ministerial control body (National Conventional Arms Control Committee), criteria, principles and guidelines to ensure the responsible transfer and trade in, amongst others, small arms and light weapons.

The South African Government has adopted a policy on the destruction of surplus small arms. The policy stems from the Government's grave concern about the proliferation of small arms and its devastating effect on the socioeconomic development and reconstruction of civil societies in Southern Africa. In terms of this policy the South African Police Service on 6 October 1997 melted down 20 tons of firearms (4 504 confiscated firearms) which included pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns and home made firearms with an estimated commercial value in excess of R2 million (approx US$330 000). Subsequently the South African Police Service destroyed an additional 11 tons of confiscated ammunition and 10 tons of confiscated small arms, 9 tons of obsolete/outdated ammunition and 20 tons of redundant/obsolete small arms.

During February 1999 the South African Government took the decision to effect disposal via destruction, of all State held redundant, obsolete, unserviceable and confiscated semi-automatic weapons of a calibre smaller than 12,7mm. This decision was taken in accordance with the Secretary General's Report on Small Arms (A/52/298 of 27 August 1997) that recommended, amongst others, that all states should consider the possibility of destroying all surplus small arms.

SUB-REGIONAL MEASURES

As the South African Government is committed to stop the flow of illegal small arms across South Africa's borders, it has already entered into agreements with several Southern African States with a view to curb the trafficking of illegal small arms and ammunition.

In this regard bilateral agreements have been signed between South Africa and Mozambique and between South Africa and Swaziland to address cross border crime.

These agreements provide for joint investigations as well as exchange of information between the respective police forces. Several joint operations have been conducted between the three countries at both grass roots and national levels. Approximately 60 successful ad hoc ground level joint operations have been concluded between Mozambique and South Africa alone.

The bilateral agreement with Mozambique has led to the launching of the first joint operation for the collection and destruction of uncontrolled arms/explosives caches within Mozambique, known as Operation Rachel.

Since 1995, the South African Government has funded four official Rachel operations during which approximately 450 tons of arms and ammunition have been destroyed. As Mozambique is a vast country stretching up the east coast of Africa, with many uncontrolled weapons caches it is foreseen that several more operations will be held in the future. This obviously depends on the availability of information, the situation on the ground and funds for future projects.

OTHER DEPARTMENTS AND COOPERATION ORGANISATIONS

South African Police Service
Defence Secretariat
Organisation for African Unity (OAU)
Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperating Organisation (SARPCCO)

GENERAL COMMENTS

South African Position Paper on Small Arms and Light Weapons Proliferation

While arms control has traditionally focused on conventional arms and weapons of mass destruction, the devastation wrought by the proliferation of light weapons and small arms on socioeconomic development generally, and specifically in the reconstruction of post-conflict societies, can no longer be ignored.

Within countries, unimpeded access to light weapons and small arms, and the use of these, have increased the lethality of crime, violence, banditry and civil disobedience. Regionally, the demobilisation of ex-combatants, disarmament programmes and reductions of military-industrial complexes are constrained by the existence of large amounts of poorly regulated and indiscriminately used light weapons and small arms.

The diffusion of existing stocks and the import of new weapons endanger the democratic pursuits which are being consolidated and negatively influence the ability of governments to govern effectively, not only of countries in Africa but around the world.

The challenge in addressing the proliferation of small arms is to marshal the necessary human and financial resources, encourage the sharing of reliable data among national departments and regional partners, coordinate action and raise the profile of the issue to gain the support of governments, politicians and nongovernmental organisations.

Furthermore, the illicit proliferation of small arms is closely linked to other criminal activities and therefore must be addressed within the context of other initiatives aimed at reducing crime. The close link between licit and illicit weapons must also be recognised and approaches to addressing the one must relate to the other within countries as well as in regional initiatives.

Therefore, South Africa believes that:

1. A holistic approach is necessary to address this problem. Concurrent action must be taken at national, regional and international levels focusing on both licit and illicit small arms and light weapons; and;

2. A regional initiative for the control of weapons proliferation in Africa is urgently needed.

2. Recommended Course of Action

A. APPROACH

i. Addressing the proliferation of light weapons and small arms in South Africa and its immediate region must be viewed from an inclusive perspective of arms control and disarmament, post-conflict peace building, conflict prevention and socioeconomic development.

Through the coordination of these approaches, a holistic national strategy should be developed that will assess and identify national priorities and determine achievable steps to be taken to contain and reduce weapons proliferation.

ii. To reinforce national action, it is imperative that a regional approach should be formulated to address the problem of the uncontrolled proliferation of small arms and light weapons that is based on regional concerns and adopts an incremental approach. This will ensure that as each region of the world develops an indigenous approach, the building blocks will be put in place to effectively deal with this issue globally.

iii. The focus areas in all instances should be placed on illicit and licit small arms and light weapons. Thus, national and regional approaches must be developed for both short-term and long-term gains which could make an impact on illicit as well as licit arms circulation.

B. PRACTICAL MEASURES FOR COORDINATION AND COOPERATION NATIONAL:

iv. National efforts should focus on enhancing legislation and regulation to prevent legal small arms from becoming illegal through criminal activity, improving, as necessary, regulation on the import, export and transfer of light weapons and small arms, and increasing the control over stocks of light weapons belonging to security forces.

v. Steps should also be taken to reduce the number of existing weapons through voluntary methods (including programmes of collection and destruction) and increasing the capacity of the security forces to identify, seize and destroy illicit weapons.

REGIONAL:

vi. Regionally, an important confidence-building measure that will lead to long-term gains for regional cooperation and trust is greater transparency by countries of their transfers of small arms and light weapons.

vii. In affected regions, countries and regional organisations should take immediate steps to stop the inflow of small arms and light weapons through increased cooperation, harmonisation of transfer procedures, tighter border control and intelligence sharing. Attention must also be focused on the recirculation of existing stocks throughout the region and appropriate control measures devised, including increased cooperation among governments regionally, joint operations and harmonisation of priorities.

viii.Cooperative partnership should be established between governments, international and regional organisations and the nongovernmental community to mobilise public and political support. The role of the non- governmental community in assisting governments in achieving this support and aiding in the compilation of reliable data regarding small arms and light weapons proliferation in all its aspects should be explored fully.

ix. Aside from this regional initiative, an international conference on light weapons and small arms should be held after 1999 to enable governments and regional organisations to share their experiences, and facilitate dialogue. The aim of the conference should be to increase cooperation and avoid duplication of initiatives to ensure that scarce resources are utilised effectively. The conference should formulate an action plan to combat this proliferation problem based upon the experiences of indigenous regional approaches in this regard. Such regional approaches would put in place measures to effectively deal with this issue globally.