Ubiquitous killers

GLOBAL EFFORTS AT arms control and disarmament are set to widen further in the years ahead with the United Nations placing the problem of spread of small arms and light weapons on the international agenda. Presently estimated to be over 500 million pieces scattered across the world's conflict zones, these weapons have clearly emerged as mass killers, especially during the last decade when four million people are said to have lost their lives to small arms. Set against this tragic backdrop, the UN Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects, which has commenced in New York, should go about its task with the sole objective of drastically scaling down the availability of these ubiquitous killers in an effective and time-bound manner. The problems associated with this task are indeed huge. Consequently, the efforts at controlling the illicit trade - estimated to be about $ 2 billion to $ 3 billion a year - take place in a rather difficult setting. One difficulty is the absence of checks or monitoring mechanisms unlike in the case of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Yet another is that the arguments - by defence and law enforcement agencies - in favour of the legitimate use of such weapons cannot be dismissed. Yet, considering the carnage that these instruments of death have brought upon societies of the world - estimates have it that close to half a million people are killed every year - the time has indeed come to take serious efforts to control their spread.

With armed internal conflicts seemingly set to gain further momentum in the years ahead, issues relating to the international flow of small arms will have to be addressed. That small arms and light weapons - ranging from pistols to shoulder-fired missiles - emerged as `weapons of choice' in 46 of the 49 major conflicts the world over during the 1990s is but a dangerous pointer to what lies ahead. To make any substantive progress, two basic issues would have to be addressed to begin with: putting in place a mechanism through which manufacturing countries disclose information on the export of such arms and bringing in measures to regulate arms brokers as well as the physical flow of such weapons at national levels. These require not just considerable coordination between states but also concerted action at the

ground level in law enforcement. Such efforts are imperative given the debilitating impact of small arms on societies. One virulent consequence of the spread of small arms is the increased militarisation of societies, a manifestation of which is the disturbing phenomenon of deployment of child soldiers by non- state players.

If attempts to rein in this global menace are to succeed, there should be an increased public sensitivity to the magnitude of the problem at hand. The initial global attempts will largely aim at setting the international turf for greater cooperation between state players in the form of political commitments as well as legal instruments. While much of the deliberations of the ongoing conference will centre on strengthening the roles played by states, it would also be in perspective to factor in the rise and spread of armed non-state players, who have largely existed on account of simmering internal political discords. It would only be in order if states also address the internal factors that provide the initial setting for the advent of the non-state groups - many of which metamorphose into terrorist organisations - and bring in effective internal changes. For, as much as the menace is a problem related to arms control and disarmament, it is also a manifestation of the political processes within nation- states. It is in the sensitive handling of emotive internal political issues that much of the lasting solutions can be found to effectively check the spread of small arms and light weapons.

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