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Small Arms and Light Weapons Small arms and light weapons - including revolvers, rifles, sub-machine guns and portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns - contribute to the deaths of thousands of people each week and cause insecurity and human suffering in numerous places across the globe. Removing these weapons and addressing the causes of proliferation are a crucial part of promoting peace and creating safer societies. 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. To find out more about our projects in this area, click on the links below:
Small arms as a barrier to peace 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 focus on this agreement. Our work centres around assessing
progress made and challenges faced in the implementation of international small
arms control measures and also involves working to strengthen the knowledge and
expertise of policymakers in understanding and responding to small arms
matters. For more information contact Charlotte Watson
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