OUR WORK >> BY CONCERN

Small Arms and Light Weapons

Appropriate measures are needed to control the production, sale, importation and exportation of small arms and light weapons (SALW), armaments that facilitate many outbreaks of violence to occur. These arms kill, and are used for the most part in internal and regional conflicts. Their ready availability increases both, the risk of new conflicts and the intensity of those already underway.

The proliferation and misuse of small arms endangers personal security, contributes to violations of human rights, and undermines social justice, development, and peace in all parts of the world.

International efforts to control the trade in and dissemination of these weapons focus on pressurising governments and inter-governmental institutions to adopt protocols that demand marking of the weapons for tractability, and putting strict controls on the transfer of the these weapons through an international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) is the global movement against gun violence.

Highlights

• Founding member of IANSA, with many Member Organisations involved in national or regional IANSA networks (i.e. Belgium, Philippines, DR Congo). Further information can be found on the IANSA website.

• Pax Christi International organised a cross-border meeting on Small Arms and Light Weapons in Arua, Uganda, where activists from Uganda, Sudan, and the DR Congo gathered to plot joint strategies and actions.

• Participation in the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence to raise awareness, campaign for better gun laws and push for stronger regulation of the global arms trade.