Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

(Australia)

Peace & Freedom, journal of WILPF Australia

From WILPF Australia's Peace and Freedom Journal, April 2001

in the line of fire....

Linda Kaucher(WILPF NSW) reports on WILPF' s International Women' s Day Conference and the UN Committee on Disarmament session held in Geneva

Each year, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom presents an International Womens Day conference in Geneva, directly preceding the UN Committee on Disarmament session. This year's conference, entitled 'In the Line of Fire' brought a gender perspective to the global issue of 'small arms', and was timed as a prelude to the UN World Conference on Small Arms to be held in New York this July.

Opening WILPF's conference, the Irish Ambassador pointed out that the issue of small arms involves women as victims, as actors, and as people who can, and should, have the opportunity to be involved in peace negotiations. It could, of course, also involve women as workers and unionists, and as shareholders. Small arms are used in conflict situations, in violent crime and in domestic assault, and, while it can be argued that these would occur anyway, they are all increased by the availability of small arms. This availability involves a complex interaction of national and international factors, of legality and illegality, and of the public and the private. While most small arms sales are initially 'legal' arms transfers they may then fall into illegal hands, or be used by states in an 'illegal' way, such as to arm militias. Eighty to ninety percent of small arms transfers are 'legal', and 10 - 15% 'illegal'. It is for these reason that the issues of 'legal' arms transfers, and controls on them, must be considered. However, the global conference in July will work within guidelines of only discu'sing 'illegal' arms transfers, and will be restricted to 'trade issues', so hopes for outcomes from it are at best modest.

While international attempts could be made to ban arms sales to non-state actors, it may be argued that there may be, in some cases, for instance where there is a repressive government, legitimate reasons for the procurement of arms by non state actors. It could also be argued that non-violent pressure may in the long run be more successful, and that weapons can exacerbate atrocities by resistance groups.

The program of action that is being suggested by NGOs includes an agreement on record keeping including international arrangements for tracing arms transfers, and the tracking of arms brokers and shipping agents, implementing programs for disposing of surplus weapons, and increasing transparency and accountability. It was suggested at the WILPF conference that women could target specific parts of whatever draft program of action emerges in July. While it is hoped that NGO voices will be heard at the small arms conference, there is pressure by major powers against this.

According to estimates from the International Network on Small Arms (IANSA), of the 550 million small arms in the world, 250m of these are in the USA; of the 600 small arms manufacturers in the world, half of these are in the USA; and while 300 000 of the 500 000 deaths each year from small arms occur in armed conflict, the rest occur in circumstances which include murder, suicide and accidents.

A speaker from the group 'Gun Free South Africa' talked about the association of guns with the identity of white males in South Africa, the degree of domestic violence perpetrated by private security officers and police officers, and the recourse by men, when families are seen as too great a burden of responsibility, to the killing of the self and the family.

A speaker from the UN Institute for Disarmament Research described the availability of military style weapons, post conflict, as a humanitarian disaster, particularly now in Africa. Weapons made for war are powerful, easy to use and abundant. Availability of these weapons makes it hard for societies to rebuild, undermines the police, and encourages criminality, circumstances which then encourage others to arm for protection. As a result, humanitarian work is undermined, especially where Governments are weak on their responsibilities, and there is weak legislation and uncontrolled military and paramilitary activity.

Post conflict, weapons need to be collected and destroyed, and NGOs are also pushing for controls on ammunition. The UNIDR speaker called for increased NGO involvement and campaigning on monitoring.

The undermining of humanitarian work, where small arms are freely available was an issue taken up by the representative from the International Committee of the Red Cross. In April an ICRC report will detail how women are affected in armed conflict, and how weapons give power, for instance, to children, and distort relationships.

She emphasised that the human cost of the availability of small arms needs to be on the agenda, and kept in focus. Where small arms are freely available, effects include the threat to human rights, the costs in terms of economic development, and impeded social development, health and education.

According to research by the Canadian organisation 'Global Affects of Small Arms', there is a direct link between the accessibility of small arms and death rates, increased lethality and duration of conflict, and the phenomenon of children killing. The risk factor is increased 4:1 regardless of whether the arms are in the hands of civilians or the state eg the police. If weapons are not disposed of after a conflict, then the rate of conflict and death stays high, and the relationship between the number of firearms and deaths from them is the same, regardless of whether the country is rich or poor, and regardless of the type of government.

The July 2001 UN conference in New in New York, however, will not be concerned with these issues. Instead, it will be very much limited to a technological arms control perspective.

The issue of domestic regulation, which was in the original drafts, has now been removed from the scope of the conference, and it appears that US-based NGOs are failing to speak up on this. While there is clearly a need to address the culture of violence, and the UN as well as the Hague Appeal for Peace are reaching out to the education community in this regard, US gun culture is coming through as a huge problem, underscored by the US Constitution Second Amendment right to bear arms. It was considered unfortunate, by participants at the WILPF conference, that the UN 2001 event will be held in the US, and along with very modest hopes for what the conference may accomplish, there are some fears that it might do more harm than good.

The representative from the Norwegian mission to the UN in Geneva said that, while it was important to focus on positive outcomes, no legal instruments were expected to come out of the conference.

Phillipa King, from the Australian Mission to the UN described moves being made in the Pacific Islands Forum (formerly the South Pacific Forum) to develop model legislation on small arms, and suggested that ASEAN could consider manufacturing issues. (Perhaps Australia could lead the way in this).

In response to a question regarding the crossover between 'legitimate' arms sales and their illegal use, as in arming militias in Indonesia, Ms King asserted that Australia does not supply small arms to Indonesia. However this does not appear to accord with the fact of the extensive supplying of Steyr rifles to the Indonesian military by Australian Defence Industries, and this issue demands further clarification.

WILPF played a major part in the preparation of the NGO Joint Statement which was read to the Committee on Disarmament on the following day, International Women's Day.

by Linda Kaucher, in Geneva for WILPF's Human Rights Training Program for Women.

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