Off the wire
• WADA lifts Rio 2016 lab suspension  • Chinese envoy calls for multifaceted approach in tackling illicit small weapons trade  • UN agencies predict slightly rising unemployment in Latin America in 2015  • Heads of Xinhua, AP discuss media adaptation to digital era  • Roundup: Canadian stock market extends losses over downbeat U.S. data  • New UN report details rebel group's "grave" violation of international law  • Roundup: U.S. stocks little changed amid weak retail sales  • Agent says Ibra "impossible" to return to AC Milan  • Rio Pro halted by flat conditions  • Hungary recognizes Chinese as official UNWTO language  
You are here: 　 Home

UN chief blames small arms, light weapons for conflicts across world

Xinhua, May 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Wednesday blamed "the widespread availability" of small arms and light weapons for more than 250 conflicts across the world over the past decade, claiming more than 50,000 men, women and children are killed each year "as a direct consequence."

While addressing an open Security Council debate on small arms and light weapons, the secretary-general said that over the last decade, "the world has been afflicted by over 250 conflicts. While no two are the same, the widespread availability of small arms and light weapons, and their ammunition, is common to all."

More than 50,000 men, women and children are killed each year as a direct consequence, and the number of those displaced has reached levels not seen since the Second World War, said Ban, who blamed the poor weapons management for the "widespread availability of small arms and light weapons."

"The diversion of weaponry, including from government stockpiles, is further fuelling conflict, allowing rebels, gangs, criminal organizations, pirates, terrorist groups and insurgents to bolster their firepower," he said.

"In all aspects of arms and ammunition management, States can take use of the tested standards and guidelines developed by the United Nations," Ban suggested. "Monitoring ammunition flows can help identify sources, trafficking patterns and diversion points. It can remove source material for improvised explosive devices and stem the re-supply of ammunition into crime and conflict areas."

Ban admitted the causes of conflict are complex. "However, weapons and ammunition -- and their storage facilities -- are physical commodities. Guns can be licensed, marked, or confiscated; ammunition can be tracked, removed, or destroyed; and depots can be guarded, cleared, or secured."

Insurgents, armed gang members, pirates, terrorists -- they can all multiply their force through the use of unlawfully acquired firepower. The illicit circulation of small arms, light weapons and their ammunition destabilizes communities, and impacts security and development in all regions of the world.

Small arms are cheap, light, and easy to handle, transport and conceal. A build-up of small arms alone may not create the conflicts in which they are used, but their excessive accumulation and wide availability aggravates the tension. The violence becomes more lethal and lasts longer, and a sense of insecurity grows, which in turn lead to a greater demand for weapons.

Most present-day conflicts are fought mainly with small arms, which are broadly used in inter-State conflict. They are the weapons of choice in civil wars and for terrorism, organized crime and gang warfare. Endite