1998 SOUTH AFRICAN POSITION PAPER ON SMALL ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS PROLIFERATION

While arms control has traditionally focused on conventional arms and weapons of mass destruction, the devastation wrought by the proliferation of light weapons and small arms on socio-economic development generally, and specifically in the reconstruction of post-conflict societies, can no longer be ignored.

Within countries, unimpeded access to light weapons and small arms, and the use of these, have increased the lethality of crime, violence, banditry and civil disobedience. Regionally, the demobilisation of ex-combatants, disarmament programmes and reductions of military-industrial complexes are constrained by the existence of large amounts of poorly regulated and indiscriminately used light weapons and small arms.

The diffusion of existing stocks and the import of new weapons endangers the democratic pursuits which are being consolidated and negatively influences the ability of governments to govern effectively, not only of countries in Africa but around the world.

The challenge in addressing the proliferation of small arms is to marshal the necessary human and financial resources, encourage the sharing of reliable data among national departments and regional partners, coordinate action and raise the profile of the issue to gain the support of governments, politicians and nongovernmental organisations.

Furthermore, the illicit proliferation of small arms is closely linked to other criminal activities and therefore must be addressed within the context of other initiatives aimed at reducing crime. The close link between licit and illicit weapons must also be recognised and approaches to addressing the one must relate to the other both within countries and in regional initiatives.

Therefore, South Africa believes that:

A holistic approach is necessary to address this problem. Concurrent action must be taken at national, regional and international levels focusing both on licit and illicit small arms and light weapons; and;
A regional initiative for the control of weapons proliferation in Africa is urgently needed.

RECOMMENDED COURSE OF ACTION

Addressing the proliferation of light weapons and small arms in South Africa and its immediate region must be viewed from an inclusive perspective of arms control and disarmament, post-conflict peace building, conflict prevention and socio-economic development.

Through the coordination of these approaches, a holistic national strategy should be developed that will assess and identify national priorities and determine achievable steps to be taken to contain and reduce weapons proliferation.
To reinforce national action, it is imperative that a regional approach should be formulated to address the problem of the uncontrolled proliferation of small arms and light weapons that is based on regional concerns and adopts an incremental approach. This will ensure that as each region of the world develops an indigenous approach, the building blocks will be put in place to effectively deal with this issue globally.
The focus areas in all instances should be placed on illicit and licit small arms and light weapons. Thus, national and regional approaches must be developed for both short-term and long-term gains which can make an impact on illicit as well as licit arms circulation.

B. PRACTICAL MEASURES FOR CO-ORDINATION AND CO-OPERATION

NATIONAL:
National efforts should focus on enhancing legislation and regulation to prevent legal small arms from becoming illegal through criminal activity, improve, as necessary, regulation on the import, export and transfer of light weapons and small arms, and increase the control over stocks of light weapons belonging to security forces.
Steps should also be taken to reduce the number of existing weapons through voluntary methods (including programmes of collection and destruction) and increasing the capacity of the security forces to identify, seize and destroy illicit weapons.

REGIONAL:
Regionally, an important confidence-building measure that will lead to long-term gains for regional cooperation and trust is greater transparency by countries of their transfers of small arms and light weapons.
In affected regions, countries and regional organisations should take immediate steps to stop the inflow of small arms and light weapons through increased cooperation, harmonisation of transfer procedures, tighter border control and intelligence sharing. Attention must also be focused on the recirculation of existing stocks throughout the region and appropriate control measures devised, including increased cooperation among governments regionally, joint operations and harmonisation of priorities.
A cooperative partnership should be established between governments, international and regional organisations and the nongovernmental community to mobilise public and political support. The role of the nongovernmental community in assisting governments in achieving this support and aiding in the compilation of reliable data regarding small arms and light weapons proliferation in all its aspects should be explored fully.
Aside from this regional initiative, an international conference on light weapons and small arms should be held after 1999 to enable governments and regional organisations to share their experiences, and facilitate dialogue. The aim of the conference should be to increase cooperation and avoid duplication of initiatives to ensure that scarce resources are utilised effectively. The conference should formulate an action plan to combat this proliferation problem based upon the experiences of indigenous regional approaches in this regard. Such regional approaches will have put in place measures to effectively deal with this issue globally.