International Action Network on Small Arms Archives - Oxfam Policy & Practice

Briefing paper

Africa’s Missing Billions: International arms flows and the cost of conflict

11/10/2007

4 documents

38 pages long

Languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish

Keywords

Overview

Africa suffers enormously from conflict and armed violence. As well as the human tragedy, armed conflict costs Africa around $18bn per year, seriously derailing development. The most commonly used weapons in Africa’s conflicts are Kalashnikov assault rifles. The vast majority of these weapons and their ammunition – perhaps 95 per cent – come from outside […]

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Briefing paper

Arms Without Borders: Why a globalised trade needs global control

01/10/2006

5 documents

46 pages long

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Keywords

Overview

Globalisation has changed the arms trade. Arms companies, operating from an increasing number of locations, now source components from across the world. Their products are often assembled in countries with lax controls on where they end up. Too easily, weapons get into the wrong hands. Each year, at least a third of a million people […]

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Briefing note

UN Arms Embargoes: An overview of the last ten years

12/03/2006

1 documents

18 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

Despite the fact that every one of the 13 United Nations arms embargoes imposed in the last decade has been systematically violated, only a handful of the many arms embargo breakers named in UN sanctions reports has been successfully prosecuted. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, between 1990 and 2001 there were 57 […]

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Briefing note

The Call for Tough Arms Control: Voices from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

09/01/2006

1 documents

22 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

The war in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has cost millions of lives. Hundreds of thousands of people have been shot dead. Millions have died from the indirect consequences of war. What the figures do not reveal is the personal suffering of individual people, families, and villages. That is why in November […]

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Briefing note

The Call for Tough Arms Control: Voices from Haiti

09/01/2006

1 documents

22 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

Port au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, despite the presence of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). 1 Armed groups in the poor areas – some loyal to former President Aristide, some loyal to rival political factions, and some criminal gangs – have battled against the Haitian National Police (HNP) and UN military, and against […]

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Briefing note

The Call for Tough Arms Control: Voices from Sierra Leone

09/01/2006

2 documents

24 pages long

Languages: English, French

Keywords

Overview

Fighting began in Sierra Leone in March 1991, when a small number of rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) crossed the border from Liberia and began attacking civilians. By the time the war was declared over, tens of thousands had been killed out of a population of five million, thousands had been mutilated or […]

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Briefing paper

The G8: Global arms exporters: Failing to prevent irresponsible arms transfers

22/06/2005

1 documents

49 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

The international arms trade lacks effective control. Irresponsible arms transfers continue to fuel armed violence. They contribute to violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and they undermine development. The uncontrolled proliferation of conventional arms, particularly small arms and light weapons (hereafter referred to as small arms), has taken a terrible toll on communities […]

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Briefing paper

Towards an Arms Trade Treaty: Next steps for the UN programme of action

01/06/2005

1 documents

36 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

There is an imperative need for an international Arms Trade Treaty, based on fundamental principles of international law, to reduce the human cost of arms proliferation, prevent unscrupulous weapons suppliers finding the weakest point in the supply chain, and ensure that all arms exporters are working to the same standards. The ultimate goal is a […]

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Briefing paper

Tracking Lethal Tools: Marking and tracing arms and ammunition: A central piece of the arms control puzzle

01/12/2004

1 documents

32 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

A global system for tracking illicit arms and ammunition is central to improving accountability in the international arms trade and preventing arms getting into the wrong hands. The United Nations negotiations to establish international Marking and Tracing controls present states with an historic opportunity to take a tough stance against the worldwide proliferation of illicit […]

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Briefing paper

Lock, Stock and Barrel: How British arm components add up to deadly weapons

01/02/2004

1 documents

22 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

Since 1997, the UK has introduced robust criteria aimed at preventing the sale of weapons to countries where they could fuel conflict, undermine development, and violate human rights. But in today’s global arms trade, weapons are increasingly assembled from components from many countries. Between 1998 and 2002, there was a four-fold increase in licences for […]

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