Farewell to arms

For India, with an estimated 40 million mostly illicit firearms, it is critical to check smuggling of light weapons, the bulk of which reach insurgents and criminal gangs across the country.

Five years after adopting a UN Programme of Action to tackle illicit trade in small arms and light weapons (SALW), representatives of governments and civil society are meeting in Geneva to assess the progress. Globally, illicit trade makes up 25 per cent of the $ 4 billion SALW market. Small arms, many of them manufactured or obtained illegally, cause between 80,000 and 108,000 deaths in conflicts and 200,000 deaths in non-conflict areas worldwide. SALW contribute to violence, which disrupts public life and social services and impedes development. In addition, studies show that armed gangs glamourise gun culture and macho behaviour, which increases sexual assaults on women.

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Given that the arms industry is highly politicised, with the military-industrial complex enjoying enormous leverage in developed countries, arms pushing is akin to drug pushing, as Amartya Sen says in a recent article. Various studies have pointed out that leading arms makers in EU, US, China and Russia have sold weapons to extremely poor and conflict-prone countries like Sudan and Liberia, where they are almost certain to cause human rights abuse. Hence, the UN Programme aims to encourage strengthening of national legislation to control illegal SALW trade, and to ensure that arms are not sold to countries that cannot afford their economic, social or human rights costs. Efforts are on to harmonise marking and record-keeping, and to foster cooperation in arms tracing. Nations today exist in a situation of shared vulnerability, and cooperation in such areas is pragmatic and far-sighted.

For India, with an estimated 40 million mostly illicit firearms, it is critical to check smuggling of SALW, the bulk of which reach insurgents and criminal gangs across the country. The government has already taken up the matter with Bangladesh and Myanmar, and should engage Pakistan too. Steps must be taken to shut down the many katta factories dotting the hinterland and more broad-ranging incentives, or perhaps, disincentives provided to leach away the illicit arms already in circulation.