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Small Arms and Developing Countries
In recent years considerable
attention has focused on the link between the misuse of small arms and
development. Some of the most important research findings, produced by the Small
Arms Survey, UNDP, BICC and the Congressional Research Service, are available via links at the
bottom of this page.
Developing countries continue to be the primary focus of foreign arms
sales activity by weapons suppliers. During the years 1993-2000, the value of
arms transfer agreements with developing nations comprised 67.7% of all such
agreements worldwide. More recently, arms transfer agreements with developing
nations constituted 67.6% of all such agreements globally from 1997-2000, and
69% of these agreements in 2000.
Small arms directly kill well over 300,000 people in conflict each year (with at
least three times that many injured), and affect millions more through terror
and suffering. Though small arms and light weapons are often associated with
armed warfare, firearm-related killings are also increasingly occurring outside
of the immediate context of conflict - with rising banditry, armed assault and
violence in areas experiencing a high availability. People living in pre and
post-conflict environments demonstrate similar forms of vulnerability to
firearm-related homicide and assault.
Small arms availability and use have a broad range of secondary impacts - from
forced migration (across borders and internal) to the collapse of household
entitlements and access to basic needs. The mere threat of small arms
availability and use affects household and individual decision-making regarding
(forced) migration and the pursuit of employment or rural livelihoods. There is
a strong correlation between the incidence of firearm-related massacres or
"political killings" and forced displacement. Small arms play a
significant role undermining socio-economic development because assets are
frequently seized and families violently dismantled.
At the macro-economic level, small arms availability undermines social and
economic development. Firearm-related insecurity partly conditions foreign
direct investment and can shape the allocation of budgetary resources among and
between government departments. Furthermore, arms-related insecurity affects UN
and NGO spending priorities. At the micro-economic level, the use of small arms
and threat of firearm-related violence affects the labour, production and
transfer (inheritance) entitlements of individuals - both directly (e.g.
homicide and injury) and indirectly (e.g. undermining public services and the
destruction of common property resources).
For further study, please download some key documents on Small Arms and Developing Countries, produced by the
Small Arms Survey, UNDP, BICC and the Congressional Research Service, here:
Small Arms Survey 2003
Obstructing
Development: The Effects of Small Arms on Human Development (Chapter 4)
Full text of the 2003 Yearbook Chapter
Obstructing
Development: The Effects of Small Arms on Human Development (Summary of Chapter
4)
Summary of the 2003 Yearbook Chapter
For more information, visit the Small
Arms Survey homepage
United Nations Development Programme
Development
Held Hostage: Assessing the Effects of Small Arms on Human Development
A Preliminary study of the socio - economic impacts and development linkages
of small arms proliferation, availability and use. By Robert Muggah & Peter
Batchelor, April 2002
Small Arms Survey/Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue
Humanitarianism
Under Threat: The Humanitarian Impacts of Small Arms and Light Weapons
A Study Commissioned by the Reference Group on Small Arms of the UN
Inter-Agency Standing Committee. By Robert Muggah & Eric Berman, July 2001.
CRS Report for Congress
Conventional
Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1993-2000
By Richard F. Grimmett, Specialist in National Defense. Foreign Affairs,
Defense, and Trade Division. August 16, 2001
Bonn International Center for Conversion
Small
Arms in the Horn of Africa: Challenges, Issues and Perspectives
BICC brief 23, by Kiflemariam Gebre-Wold & Isabelle Masson (eds.) March
2002
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