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Muggah, Robert. 2005 ‘Civilian Gun Possession.’ Securing Haiti's Transition: Reviewing Human Insecurity and the Prospects for Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration; Occasional Paper No. 14 (Updated), p. xxiv. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. 1 October

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Civilians represent a significant category of weapons owners in Haiti. Weapons ownership has been a constitutional right in Haiti since 1987 and firearms are widely possessed by middle-class and 'bourgeois' homeowners throughout the country, though especially in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Illicit weapons are also widely distributed among the poorer strata of Haitian society. In 2001, the HNP [Haitian National Police] registered 20,379 legal firearms in the country, though since 2003, these weapons are effectively illegal.

Alarmingly, there are a number of reports of new weapons permits being issued in early 2005, although no formal regulatory system is in place.

This study contends that the real number of weapons held by civilians is in fact much higher: they are estimated to own as many as 170,000 small arms, primarily pistols (0.38s, 9 mms) and revolvers (including creole weapons), though assault rifles (5.56, 7.62 calibre) are also owned.

The regulatory framework for domestic possession and use is permissive and no tangible registry of permits or legitimate weapons ownership currently exists.

ID: Q9880

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