Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW)

We have been working on this issue since 1994, when we identified unregulated small arms proliferation and misuse as one of the world’s most pressing security issues. Over the few years Alert has been moving away from focusing on the small arms issue in isolation and now seeks to address the challenges they pose within a more holistic approach to community security, DDR and SSR.

• Biting the Bullet (monitoring and promoting the implementation of the 2001 UN Programme of Action)
• Monitoring and Implementation of Small Arms Controls
  (research project)
• Promoting Gender Sensitivity in the UN Programme of Action
  (policy recommendations)

There are currently an estimated 639 million small arms in the global circulation and over 50 percent of these do not belong to governments. These weapons are easily and cheaply obtainable, particularly in zones of conflict, and they have a destructive impact that reaches far beyond their use by armies.

Unlike other conventional weapons small arms are held and used by a wide variety of actors including civilians, private security companies, criminals and youth gangs. They fuel conflict, facilitate the use of child soldiers (as they are light enough for them to carry), and are used indiscriminately to kill, injure and intimidate civilians. After war has ended they are used for criminal purposes, violence and as threatening instruments of power, undermining efforts to build lasting peace and development in a devastating way.

Small arms are a challenge to which governments and civil society are now responding. A significant number of important international and regional agreements have been signed and communities across the world are looking to develop their own initiatives to tackle the availability and misuse of these weapons. The most significant international agreement on small arms and light weapons is the 2001 UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects. International Alert has three projects that focused on this agreement. These centred on assessing progress made and challenges faced in the implementation of international small arms control measures and also involved working to strengthen the knowledge and expertise of policymakers in understanding and responding to small arms matters.