Sudan
Taking Civilians' Guns by Force Will Not Improve Security in South Sudan
Sudan Tribune (France), Opinion
2 June 2008
In response to decades of armed violence and cattle rustling, the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) is planning a campaign to forcibly collect firearms from southern citizens. Government officials' motivations are understandable. Endemic pastoralist violence is reaching dangerous levels and there are widespread suspicions of outside support for the perpetrators as part of efforts to scupper the fragile north-south peace process. But coercive... ( gunpolicy.org )
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea Politicians Must 'Deal with Gun Issue as National Crisis'
Post-Courier (Port Moresby)
9 May 2008
The development of Papua New Guinea is under serious threat with the ever increasing number of illegal guns in many parts of the country. The Post-Courier editor in chief Oseah Philemon said this after he was awarded a Divine Word University UNESCO Communication and Development award for reporting on gun-related issues in the country. Mr Philemon said gun-related incidents against innocent people were frequently reported... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Nations
Ban Ki-moon Gives First Report on Global Gun Trade to UN Security Council
Associated Press of Pakistan
1 May 2008
UNITED NATIONS -- The uncontrolled trade in small arms and their excessive accumulation and proliferation poses a threat to international peace and security, a senior UN told the Security Council Wednesday. "We have all witnessed how these weapons have been used to maim and kill; plunder and rape; instil fear and insecurity; block humanitarian aid; hold communities at ransom; destroy the social fabric of entire countries; and how... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Nations
UN Security Council Holds Open Debate on Threat of Global Gun Trade
Xinhua
1 May 2008
UNITED NATIONS -- The UN Security Council held on Wednesday an open debate on the threat posed by the illicit flow of small arms to international peace and security. During the meeting, Hannelore Hoppe, deputy to the high representative for disarmament affairs, presented UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's first-ever report on small arms. In the report, the UN chief said that, while a build-up of small arms alone may not... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Nations
UN Chief Urges Countries to Enhance Data Sharing on Guns, Ammunition
Associated Press of Pakistan
24 April 2008
UNITED NATIONS -- UN Member States need to increase their collection, maintenance and sharing of data on small arms as part of measures to encourage disarmament, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says. These weapons are "cheap, light and easy to handle, transport and conceal," Ban wrote in his first-ever report on the topic. "While a build-up of small arms alone may not create the conflicts in which they are used, their excessive... ( gunpolicy.org )
Kenya, East Africa
Development Money to East Africa Fails to End Gun Trade Among Herders
Nation (Nairobi)
17 April 2008
LONDON -- Donors have been asked to stop funding NGOs working for peace in northern Kenya because the money has failed to do anything to reduce conflicts between pastoralist communities. Moreover, governments in East Africa have been challenged to do more to stop the proliferation of arms in the region. They have also been urged to work jointly to disarm all militia groups to improve security in the region. These are the... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada, United Nations, World
Nations View Global Burden of Gun Violence Through a Development Lens
Ottawa Citizen (Ontario), Opinion
9 April 2008
Poor countries are less safe than rich ones. Most of the world's 30-odd armed conflicts are raging in the global South. As a country's human development ranking declines, its risk of succumbing to violent conflict grows. More than one-third of all countries mired in poverty experienced war since the late 1990s. Fewer than two per cent of rich countries experienced conflict over the same period. The international aid community has... ( gunpolicy.org )
Uganda
Uganda: Gun Running, Armed Violence Could Harm Northern Peace Deal
Monitor (Kampala)
28 March 2008
KAMPALA/GULU -- As northern Uganda prepares for a post-war recovery programme that will see thousands of displaced people resume a normal life, arms trafficking is becoming a serious security concern among the stakeholders. Security and local leaders fear that the problem of illegal guns and weapons said to be in the hands of former LRA combatants, Karimojong warriors, army deserters, robbers, arms traffickers from Southern Sudan,... ( gunpolicy.org )
Angola
Angola Plans 'Guns for Development' Weapon Collection, Destruction
Angola Press Agency (Luanda)
30 January 2008
LUANDA -- Angolan Home minister, Roberto Leal Monteiro "Ngongo", said Wednesday in Luanda that his institution will intensify actions to disarm the civilian population. Speaking in an interview with the State-controlled "Rádio Nacional de Angola" broadcasting station, the official said the Interior Ministry has for that purpose defined three phases for the process. He mentioned sensitising and organisation (including a... ( gunpolicy.org )
Nigeria, West Africa
Governments, NGOs, UN Plan Roadmap for Gun Control in West Africa
This Day (Lagos), Opinion
15 January 2008
LAGOS -- The proliferation, misuse and illegal possession of small arms and light weapons (SALWs) is becoming a common culture in various societies. In the not-too-distant past, SALWs was alien to the African society apart from the crude and primitive ones used by hunters in the hinterland. Today, the incessant cases of political instability, deepening poverty, crimes of armed robberies, assassinations, militancy, oil bunkering,... ( gunpolicy.org )
Mali, West Africa
Mali, West African ECOWAS Nations Launch Surveys of Gun Proliferation
Angola Press
8 December 2007
NIGERIA -- Mali's Minister of Defence, Mr. Natie Plea, has described the Small Arms Survey as a great opportunity to find ways to ensure a stable polity through the control of small arms and light weapons. A statement from the ECOWAS Small Arms Programme (ECOSAP) said Mr. Plea made the remarks earlier this week at the launch of the small arms survey programme of Mali. He gave kudos to ECOSAP, which is supporting the conduct... ( gunpolicy.org )
Nigeria
Guns, Armed Violence, Insecurity in Nigeria: The Niger Delta in Perspective
Relief Web / Small Arms Survey (Geneva), Web Page
5 December 2007
This report is based on field research that was carried out by the Small Arms Survey and our Nigerian partners from September 2006 to April 2007. Consequently, the analysis presented here reflects the situation in Nigeria during this period. While the report does address some key events that took place after April 2007 -- the inauguration of the new president, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua; the initiation of peace talks in the Niger Delta; and the... ( gunpolicy.org )
Africa
A Better Strategy for Africa: Development and Security in Exchange for Guns
InterPress Service News Agency (Johannesburg)
27 November 2007
DAR ES SALAAM -- Increasing international co-operation in exchange for guns and improving the sense of domestic security are promising strategies for reducing the number of small weapons in the hands of civilians in developing countries, a leading expert on the matter says. Keith Krause, programme director of the Small Arms Survey, told IPS that taking weapons from civilians in developing countries is the toughest part of cutting... ( gunpolicy.org )
Africa, United Nations
An Arms Trade Treaty Is Needed, But African Nations Also Need More Guns
Arab News (Jeddah), Editorial
12 October 2007
Yesterday's release of a report by the highly regarded international aid organization Oxfam spelled out in detail how wars and insurgencies have cost African countries $18 billion a year since 1990. It compels us to pay attention, especially when the preface is by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, a country that knows only too well the costs of civil war. The report makes sober reading. The money lost could have been... ( gunpolicy.org )
Africa, United Nations, World
Africa Needs Global Gun Trade Treaty to Curb War, Massive Economic Loss
Bloomberg (USA)
11 October 2007
Armed conflict has cost sub-Saharan Africa about $284 billion over 15 years, equal to the amount of international aid the world's poorest continent has received in the same period, Oxfam International said. Oxfam, in a report it published today with two groups that promote non-violence, said Africa is losing more than $18 billion a year on conflict. The average war shrinks an African nation's economy by 15 percent, according to... ( gunpolicy.org )
World, Kenya, Africa, United Nations, United Kingdom
Baby's Gun Death Sparks Family's Campaign to Curb Global Gun Violence
Scotsman (Edinburgh)
11 October 2007
Four years ago, on a warm summer evening in July 2003, a young Turkish woman was relaxing in a café in the fishing resort of Foca in south-west Turkey, her young son asleep in his pram beside her. Ozlem Grimason had been enjoying a family holiday in her native country with her Scottish husband, David, and their two-year-old son, Alistair. David had just gone back to the couple's home in East Kilbride -- a couple of days early,... ( gunpolicy.org )
Africa, United Nations, World
Devastating Cost of Africa's Gun Violence: £150bn and Millions of Lives
Guardian (UK)
11 October 2007
Conflicts in Africa since the end of the cold war have cost the continent £150bn, equivalent to all the foreign aid it has received over the same period, according to a report released by Oxfam today. The study, Africa's Missing Billions, says that almost half of the countries on the continent have been involved in some form of conflict since 1990 at a substantial cost to lives and development. The report compares African... ( gunpolicy.org )
Africa, United Nations, World
First Global Gun Trade Treaty Would Particularly Benefit Africa, Experts Say
IRIN (UN News)
11 October 2007
DAKAR -- The creation of a global Arms Trade Treaty currently being debated by the United Nations' first committee would particularly benefit Africa according to various arms control experts. "Arms don't necessary cause conflicts in Africa but they do fuel them and make them bloodier and more costly," Oxfam's Debbie Hillier, a policy advisor on small arms who spoke to IRIN. She is the lead author of a study released on... ( gunpolicy.org )
Africa, United Nations
Global Gun Trade a Big Contributor to Death, Poverty of Millions of Africans
Reuters
11 October 2007
JOHANNESBURG -- Wars stripped about $284 billion from Africa's economies between 1990 and 2005, roughly equal to the amount of aid money given to the world's poorest continent, according to a report on Thursday by Oxfam International. In the study "Africa's Missing Billions," the British aid group said the 23 conflicts engulfing Africa in the period had shrunk economies by an average 15 percent per year at a cost of almost $18 billion... ( gunpolicy.org )
Ghana, Africa, United Nations
Global Gun Trade Treaty: 15 Years of Gun Violence Have Cost Africa $300bn
Accra Daily Mail (Ghana)
11 October 2007
The cost of conflict on African development was approximately $300bn between 1990 and 2005, according to new research by Oxfam International, IANSA and Saferworld. This is equal to the amount of money received in international aid during the same period. The study "Africa's Missing Billions" is the first time analysts have estimated the overall effects of conflict on GDP across the continent and comes as diplomats from around the... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Kingdom, Africa, United Nations
Kenyan Tribal Elder Asks the Question: How Do All These Guns Get Here?
BBC News (Scotland)
11 October 2007
Eileen Clarkson of Oxfam Scotland travelled to Kenya as part of the Control Arms campaign with David and Ozlem Grimason, whose son was killed by a gunman in Turkey. On the day a new report reveals the cost of conflict on African development, she tells the BBC Scotland news website why there should be an Arms Trade Treaty. When I was pregnant with my first child, the midwife told my group of first-time mothers that such... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Nations
153 Nations Call for a Worldwide Crackdown on the Illegal Trade in Guns
InterPress Service News Agency
10 October 2007
UNITED NATIONS, New York -- The demand comes as diplomatic talks start this week over the future of a proposed treaty that would require global rules and regulations to check the flow of illegal weapons. The proposal to create such a treaty was adopted by the General Assembly last year after more than 150 countries voted in its favour, 24 abstained and one opposed. Many among those that refused to endorse the resolution are large-scale... ( gunpolicy.org )
Africa, United Nations
Costly Gun Wars, Firearm Violence Swallow Up £140billion in Africa
Metro (UK)
10 October 2007
The real cost of war War in Africa has cost the continent at least £140billion in 15 years -- as much as the amount given in international aid, a report claims. Conflict has sucked £8.8billion from economies each year, money that could be spent on saving lives, Oxfam said. Some 38 per cent of the world's armed conflicts are being fought in Africa. The average state has lost 15 per cent of GDP each year as a result of... ( gunpolicy.org )
Africa
Gun Availability Fuels Fighting in Africa, Costs Billions Needed for Aid
North County Times (California) / AP
10 October 2007
DAKAR, Senegal -- Africa's nearly two dozen wars in recent decades have robbed the continent of about $18 billion a year that could have gone to helping one of the world's poorest regions build stronger economies, according to a report being released Thursday. "This is money Africa can ill afford to lose," Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wrote in an introduction to the report by the British charity Oxfam and two groups... ( gunpolicy.org )
Africa, United Nations, World
Nations, NGOs Promote 153-Country Push for UN Global Gun Trade Treaty
Reuters
10 October 2007
UNITED NATIONS -- Former U.N. military commanders, pressure groups and diplomats urged the United Nations on Tuesday to pass more stringent controls on the global arms trade. At a news conference organized by aid group Oxfam International, they called for a framework to prevent arms transfers in cases where they are likely to be used in violation of international law, to fuel conflict or undermine development. There is... ( gunpolicy.org )
Africa, United Nations
Wars Cost Africa US$18 Billion Annually: Global Gun Trade Treaty Needed
Africa Focus / allAfrica.com (Washington)
10 October 2007
WASHINGTON, DC -- A new study shows that conflicts in Africa cost the continent over 300 billion U.S. dollars between 1990 and 2005 -- an amount equivalent to all the international aid received by sub-Saharan Africa in the same period. The results of the study were released Thursday in a report by Oxfam International, the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and Saferworld. The report is the first to show, on a large... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States, United Nations, World
US Partners With UN, Destroys 2.5 Million Guns, Small Arms World-wide
USINFO (US State Department), Web Page
1 October 2007
WASHINGTON -- Left unattended, even small stockpiles of surplus and obsolete AK-47 assault rifles, grenade launchers and shoulder-fired missiles could be stolen and used to fuel regional conflicts. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have been launching shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles against Western aircraft. In 2003, a German DHL cargo plane taking off from Baghdad International Airport for Bahrain was struck by a shoulder-fired... ( gunpolicy.org )
Ghana, West Africa
Gun Proliferation Hinders Development in West Africa, Says ECOWAS
Ghana News Agency
28 September 2007
Members of the ECOWAS Small Arms Programme (ECOSAP) Advisory Board have been charged to use their wealth of experience to define a vision to overcome the challenges posed by proliferation of small arms in the sub-region. Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, President of the ECOWAS Commission, was speaking in Abuja, Nigeria, on Monday during the inauguration of the ECOSAP Advisory Board. Dr. Chambas recalled that proliferation of Small... ( gunpolicy.org )
World
Proliferation of Firearms, Gun Violence is Growing Global Health Problem
British Medical Journal (BMJ)
8 September 2007
GENEVA -- The growing number of civilians holding firearms is fuelling gun crime worldwide and is putting healthcare systems, especially in poor countries, under stress, an expert report says. Gun crime kills about 250 000 people a year and injures many more. "The proliferation of civilian gun arsenals is not likely to slow anytime in the foreseeable future," says the report. The study was conducted under the auspices of... ( gunpolicy.org )
Afghanistan, World
Gun Control in Afghanistan: UN/US-led Effort to Retrieve 10 Million Weapons
Ottawa Citizen (Ontario), Opinion
6 September 2007
Once heralded as a success story in the global war on terror, Afghanistan is reaching a tipping point. In spite of desperate efforts by western governments to contain spiraling violence outside of Kabul, more than 4,400 Afghans were killed in 2006, many of them by gunfire. Although NATO troops are struggling to put down the Taliban-led insurgency, efforts to regulate and collect the tools of war must be redoubled. Recent news that... ( gunpolicy.org )
Kosovo
Kosovo Police Confiscate 500 Smuggled Handguns, Rifles, Ammunition
SEESAC (Belgrade) / BBC Monitoring Service / RTKTV
3 August 2007
Kosovo Police Service [ShPK] in cooperation with Kfor [NATO-led Kosovo Force] last night [Wednesday] seized over 500 small firearms; this is one of the most successful operations carried out by the anti crime police unit. [Reporter] KPS exhibited on the table its latest success, they showed 506 small arms of different calibres; most of the pistols were Berretta type 6.35 calibre, hunting riffles, close to 2,000 rounds, two magazines... ( gunpolicy.org )
Malawi
Malawi a Target for Gun Trafficking, Promises Curbs on Firearm Smuggling
Afrol News
27 July 2007
The geographical location of Malawi has threatened the country's peace and stability as evidenced by the proliferation of small firearms from its troubled neighbouring countries. And according to Malawian deputy Home Affairs of Malawi, Symon Vuwa Kaunda, this is the reason why the country has become a target route for small firearms trafficking and small firearms related crimes. Mr Kaunda delivered the speech during the commemoration... ( gunpolicy.org )
Uganda
Ugandan Govt Destroys 34,000 Rounds of Ammunition Dug Up at Brickworks
New Vision (Kampala)
25 July 2007
About 34,040 bullets were burnt at Kigo Prison yesterday. A team of explosive experts, led by the Anti-Terrorism Unit assistant commissioner of Police, Abas Byakagaba, constructed the six incinerators that were used to destroy the ammunition. The bullets were discovered in September 2006 by a 72-year-old brickmaker, Falasiko Ssentumbwe, the Kakola LC1 defence secretary and his assistant only identified as Mutoro in Kakola village,... ( gunpolicy.org )
Nigeria, West Africa
West African NGOs Call for Govt Collaboration on Global Gun Trade Treaty
This Day (Lagos)
3 July 2007
LAGOS -- Various stakeholders have called on the Federal Government to set up a Small Arms Working Group (SAWG) to meet on ways to check proliferation in the country. The committee, when convened, is also to discus a cross-regional methodology for data collection; information sharing between members, network and the Government without endangering the lives of members of the Working Group and other interested parties. Above... ( gunpolicy.org )
Jamaica
United Nations Plans to Implement Gun Control Programme in Jamaica
Jamaica Gleaner
23 June 2007
With an election approaching and political tension threatening to spill over into violence in some inner-city communities, the United Nations (UN) is readying a gun-control programme for Jamaica. The programme is not deliberately coinciding with the election but is part of the UN's wider emphasis on security in Jamaica, stressed country representative Arturo Hein-Caceres, who has experience with arms control in Serbia-Montenegro.... ( gunpolicy.org )
West Africa, Ivory Coast
West African Nations, NGOs Meet to Battle Gun Running, Gun Violence
Daily Observer (Banjul)
22 June 2007
ABIDJAN, Cote d'Ivoire -- The first sub-regional small arms-sensitive civil society consultative forum on the implementation of the Economic Community of West African States Small Arms Control Programme (Ecosap) opened on Wednesday at the Hotel Ivoire in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. About a 100 members of the civil society, including delegates from 13 Ecowas member states are participating in the two-day Waansa (West African Action Network... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Kingdom, United Nations, World
A Death by Gunshot Every Minute: UK Govt Pushes Global Gun Trade Treaty
Guardian (UK), Opinion
19 June 2007
Small arms kill one person every minute. I believe this is neither inevitable nor acceptable. So today I am calling on the world to take action to stop weapons getting into the wrong hands and to prevent thousands of brutal, unnecessary and unjust deaths. There is an opportunity -- for the first time -- for a global deal to control the movement of small arms, such as AK47s and anti-aircraft rocket launchers, as well as heavier weapons... ( gunpolicy.org )
United Kingdom, United Nations, World
Britain Urges World to Make UN Global Gun Trade Treaty a Top Priority
Khaleej Times (Dubai) / Agence France Presse
19 June 2007
LONDON -- Britain's International Development Secretary Hilary Benn on Tuesday called on world leaders to make a priorty the concluding of a treaty regulating the trade of weapons. Writing a comment piece in The Guardian daily, Benn said that there "is an opportunity -- for the first time -- for a global deal to control the movement of small arms, such as AK-47s and anti-aircraft rocket launchers, as well as heavier weapons like... ( gunpolicy.org )
West Africa, United Nations, World
West African ECOWAS Nations to Fight for Global Gun Trade Treaty at UN
This Day (Lagos)
19 June 2007
LAGOS, Nigeria -- President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, has called on West African states to support the global move towards an Arms Trade Treaty. He made the call at the ECOWAS recent Heads of State Summit in Abuja, Nigeria. The call was also made during the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence (11-17 June) when governments, UN agencies and civil society groups highlighted the problems of gun violence... ( gunpolicy.org )
Liberia, West Africa
West African Nations Call for Greater Restrictions on Global Gun Trade
United Press International
18 June 2007
ABUJA, Nigeria -- More West African nations are supporting efforts for greater restriction of the global arms trade. The head of the Economic Community of the West African States said that by having an international arms trade treaty, violence in the region could be reduced significantly. "West Africa has suffered from gun proliferation and misuse for too many years," said ECOWAS president Mohammed Ibn Chambas, adding that... ( gunpolicy.org )
Brazil, South America, Central America, United Nations
Global Gun Control Week Builds Pressure on Gun Violence in Latin America
O Globo (Brazil), Opinion
11 June 2007
It is Global Action Week against Armed Violence and we need to follow up on two important processes: internationally, the Geneva Declaration, and in Brazil, the new National Plan of Public Security and Citizenship. The Geneva Declaration on armed violence and development is an initiative of the Swiss government aimed at reaching a resolution on this issue at the UN General Assembly by the end of 2008 and defining goals for security... ( gunpolicy.org )
Liberia
Action Network on Small Arms, UNDP Campaign for Gun-Free Liberia
Analyst (Monrovia)
4 June 2007
MONROVIA -- In an effort to help make Liberia a gun-free nation after 14 years of civil war, the Liberia Action Network on Small Arms (LANSA), is calling on Liberians to join ongoing campaign by the UNDP Small Arms Control Programme to make Liberia a gun-free society. Speaking recently in Monrovia at a three-day capacity-building workshop held under the auspices of the UNDP, the head of the Secretariat of LANSA, Nicholas Faryombo,... ( gunpolicy.org )
Serbia, Montenegro
Serbs Admonished to Celebrate New Year Without Firing Guns
Canadian Press / AP
28 December 2005
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro -- Police, sports clubs and even the United Nations have a message to Serbs celebrating the New Year: "Don't shoot!" Worried about the risk to life and limb from celebratory gunfire, the UN Development Program in the Balkan republic, as well as several sports clubs and the police have launched a campaign warning residents to refrain from the annual tradition of firing guns into the night sky as a way... ( gunpolicy.org )
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