A Farewell to (Illicit) Arms: Addressing the Uncontrolled Trade of Small Arms in 2012

May 17, 2012

International progress toward combating the uncontrolled trade in conventional arms, which is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths and immeasurable human suffering every year, has been unacceptably slow. And yet new opportunities are emerging for coordinated global action in 2012. This year will be an especially important one at the United Nations for conventional arms proliferation issues. In July, the Arms Trade Treaty will be negotiated. September will mark the Review Conference of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms. And in November, Member States will begin their triennial review of the UN Register of Conventional Arms. Each of these is essential and will do their part to curb unregulated conventional arms and prevent diversion, but are ultimately insufficient barriers to containing the corrosive impact of conventional weapons on international peace and security. The focus on conventional arms at the United Nations this year gives governments around the globe the opportunity to renew their commitment to both formal and informal mechanisms to combat the proliferation of these deadly weapons. Next week at the United Nations, Stimson will join the Permanent Missions of Japan, Poland and Turkey to host a roundtable meeting to discuss these important issues.

If preventing the illicit acquisition of conventional weapons is our goal, three broad standards must be developed:

1. Regulatory harmonization and establishment of common international standards: Today's arms market is defined by a large constellation of small producers and intermediaries. Astonishingly, the licensing and reporting rules vary widely from country to country. The inability to regulate across international boundaries means that even when one State places restrictions on arms to or from a particular destination, the diversity of supply and fluidity that characterize the market seldom prevents illicit acquisition. Preventing illicit shipments of weapons requires enhanced harmonization of national laws and the development of a set of common international standards to prevent unscrupulous actors from simply moving across the border to evade a particularly hostile government action.

2. Developing brokering controls: Any attempt to control the unchecked movement of weapons must begin with a global standard for arms brokering that provide strong internationally recognized criteria to regulate the activities of arms brokers. These norms must then be translated into strict brokering controls that can be enforced on a national basis. Unfortunately, there will always be a need for legitimate arms sales around the world, but controlling the most egregious violators will always be in every governments' national interest.

3. Identifying, disrupting, and prosecuting violators: New standards are meaningless unless governments take comprehensive monitoring and enforcement action. This will require a level of enhanced cooperation between law enforcement and intelligence agencies that is often lacking due to inadequate resources and lack of prioritization across even the most committed governments. States must work more closely to give precedence to weapons trafficking as a threat to international security, regional stability, organized crime, and sustainable development. If States better share detailed information about weapons flows and disreputable arms brokers, they could increase law enforcement capacity and strengthen legal and judicial infrastructures, to prevent the trafficking and transit of illicit weapons and other contraband.

As the international community meets to discuss the ATT, and to review the Programme of Action and the UN Register on Small Arms, these principles should serve as a benchmark upon which our collective objective of preventing the illicit flow of weapons around the globe can be graded. 

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On May 21, Stimson will co-host, along with the Permanent Missions of Japan, Poland and Turkey to the United Nations, the third Turtle Bay Security Roundtable meeting in New York. The theme for this meeting will be proliferation of conventional arms. The meeting will set impending discussions at the UN in a broader context by considering the underlying threats that they seek to address. It will consider the modalities and consequences of the illicit trade in weapons, with specific focus on the elements of the threat that must be addressed. It will also cover the negative impact of irresponsible use of arms that prevents sustainable socio-economic growth of UN Member States. Panels will focus on how the problems of armed violence and mismanagement of arms have been tackled through various existing tools through pragmatic approaches and what needs to be done. Attendance to this event is by invite only. For further information, click here.

Photo Credit: US Marine Corps, via Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AKM_in_Iraq.JPEG