Call for more control of small arms

Page 47: Daily Graphic, June 15, 2009
Story: Albert K. Salia
AN expert on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), Mr Emmanuel Sowatey, says the various programmes aimed at achieving human security cannot be attained without the proper control of small arms and light weapons.
He said programmes such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), NEPAD, Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II, ECOWAS Protocols on Peace, Security and Development, among others, remain unattainable unless Ghanaians showed interest and took part in the eradication of small arms and light weapons.
Speaking in an interview to mark the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence, which runs from today, June 15 to June 21, 2009, Mr Sowatey said armed violence heightened tensions in societies experiencing conflict, undermined mediation efforts and created more insecurity.
According to him, armed violence had also increased criminality, destroyed infrastructure, disrupted agricultural activities as farmers tended to miss the rain, which in turn, meant that they would not be able to farm, thereby denying them their source of income.
Mr Sowatey said guns also created insecurity for domestic and local investors, and conflicts such as the one experienced in Bawku, had led to brain drain, thereby worsening the south-north socio-economic, educational, health and other developmental gap.
He said the frequent armed robbery incidents in the country, both urban and highway, the incessant use of weapons in Bawku and its consequences on life and property could not be overstated.
He noted that in most of those gun-related violence, women and children suffered disproportionately, and expressed the need for women to be included in peace processes in line with UN Resolution 1325, which calls for special provision and programmes to include women in peace process and also to protect them.
Mr Sowatey called on Parliament, media, civil society organisations and all peace-loving persons to support the government to pass a law backing the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), saying that “there are a lot of people who benefit from the lack of such stringent law and will want to impede the process. It is for this reason that we all need to support our governments across the world to pass this key document needed to reduce the illicit proliferation of SALW”.
He said since most of the guns found in the sub-region and conflict theatres in Ghana were not in Africa, there was the need to have a more robust, which was internationally and legally binding instrument to control the flow of those weapons. That was why the Government of Ghana, who supported the ATT, should keep on with the enthusiasm it had shown in supporting the ATT.
He explained that drafting of international law was slow, and its processes so complicated that it tended to invite complacency and, therefore, urged all stakeholders to speed up the process when the discussions about the ATT resumed at the United Nations.
“It may seem odd, so early in the process to talk of urgency, particularly when such overwhelming support for the establishment of a treaty has been demonstrated in the United Nations. In December 2008, 133 countries backed the idea, with only the United States voting against it,” he said.
Mr Sowatey, who is a member of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), said anyone with experience of international law would know that composing a formula on the control of arms transfer was no easy matter, especially when that formula had to fit in with the legal and political reality of every country in the world.
“This work is as unglamorous as it is difficult, and the temptation to put it aside for another day will be strong. But that must not be allowed to happen,” he admonished.
He said the human suffering in the Democratic Republic of Congo was a brutal illustration of what could happen when arms transfers continued unchecked.
He said while promoting peace, the ATT was not really about disarmament.
“The ATT is a matter of human rights and of security; specifically, the right of people to live in peace. It is about economics too. The failure to regulate the arms trade has an incalculable human cost, but its impact can also be measured in hard cash. Every cent spent on repairing the damage done by armed conflict is a cent that could have been spent on development. The Millennium Development Goals may not have extended to cover weapons transfers, but they are made less achievable because of the failure to regulate the arms trade,” he added.
Mr Sowatey called on all those in possession of arms to endeavour to register their firearms and also renew the licences as required by law.
He also called on Ghanaians to report the activities of gun runners to the nearest security post for action.