The failure of small arms control mechanisms

This research undertaking argues that small arms and light weapons control mechanisms at the international and national levels have failed. At the international level, the efforts of the United Nations may have resulted in the 2001 Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects and thereafter the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. Nevertheless, the Program of Action, and hence the UN, may be considered to have failed because it relegated certain issues to the periphery of the international agenda. A truly effective small arms control mechanism will have to take into account all aspects of the problem. National mechanisms to curb the diffusion of small arms and light weapons have also failed as seen in two instances: the inconsistencies between states’ (in this case the Philippines, Myanmar, and Indonesia) formal positions in the UN conferences and the national laws that have been instituted in their local jurisdictions, and the instances where the flow of arms into the country resulted in the intensification of the ongoing intrastate conflicts. In conclusion, the study points to the central role that the state must continue to play in order to address this problem