Hello lovetoflip-ga!
Welcome to Google Answers! I hope that your first experience with this
site is a positive one! I?m assuming that you are either a very busy
professor or a very busy student. Either way, I hope that the
information that I?ve gathered for you is helpful in alleviating some
of your stress and busyness at what sounds like a hectic time. I love
open group discussions?I hope it goes very well for you. Let?s get
right to what I?ve found for you!
I have a varied list of articles and resources that have to do with
the two topics you?ve addressed. I have grouped similar articles and
links together, but in general, the entire list is of resources
pertinent to the topics of arms in Africa as well as disarmament after
wars. I list each source with a short summary of what it contains.
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In a United Nations publication, Africa Recovery, inadequate
disarmament is one of the factors implicated in the enormous gun
trafficking problem in Africa. It suggests better provisions for the
collection of weapons within peace agreements may be an improvement
over current policy. Many people are also acquiring them for
self-defense, especially since the number of illegal firearms in
African nations keeps rising.
http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol12no1/smallarm.htm
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This article, listed on the Global Policy Forum, discusses the reasons
that Sudanese herdsman, the Mandari, feel that they need to maintain
arms to protect themselves and their cattle. It includes rare
interviews with Mandari herdsman along with their personal viewpoints.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/sudan/2006/0406curse.htm
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In April 2004, 11 countries from the Great Lakes region of Africa
signed a protocol that aims at reducing the number of small arms in
circulation in their countries. Among other things, the protocols call
for each country to ?pass laws specifically outlawing the illicit
manufacture, trafficking, [and] possession of small arms as well as
the falsification of their markings.?
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/smallarms/2004/0421protocol.htm
A similar conference was held in December of 2003, with the same
apparent goals in mind.
http://www.undp.org/bcpr/pubinfo/som/press_dec_2003.htm
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Here is a 2003 reference to an interesting program carried out in
Mexico. People were offered food coupons in exchange for their
firearms. The program has been successful in retrieving a variety of
weapons, including AK-47s and even hand grenades. It could provide
interesting discussion as to whether or not such a plan is feasible in
Africa.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/smallarms/articles/2003/0413mex.htm
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The Arms Reduction Coalition (ARC) has a speech posted on their site
that was delivered by Karl Miller in June 2004. It is entitled ?Arms
Reduction and Tackling Terror.? It outlines and discusses the problem
of illegal arms trafficking and its effects on terrorism worldwide. He
also presents important goals and missions of the ARC along with
suggestions for the reduction of arms in Africa, as well as the rest
of the world.
http://www.arcuk.org/pages/tacklingterrorr.htm
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This is a publication by the British government discussing the
problems related to small arms proliferation, as well as strategies
for reduction of these arms. It includes thoughts on more effective
disarmament following conflicts as well as the importance of
restricting illegal trade. There is also a goal to understand and
effect issues that lead to illegal arms trafficking, including safety
and poverty concerns.
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/smallarmslightweapons04-06.pdf
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The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) focuses on developing
programs and strategies for the reduction of small arms in Africa, as
well as around the world. The Thematic Trust Fund for Crisis
Prevention is available to provide funding to carry out these
strategies. Their 2004 report gives an accounting for their activities
over that year. Service Line 4 is of particular interest.
http://dakis.fasid.or.jp/report/pdf/handout50_1.pdf
Here is a page describing similar activities and their implications.
http://www.undp.org/bcpr/smallarms/trust.htm
Here is brief summary of a ?guns for schools? program in Sierra Leone.
The article is from 2005 and references a program in place since 2003.
http://www.undp.org/bcpr/smallarms/news/guns_for_schools.htm
This is a 2005 UNDP publication entitled ?Securing Development.? An
important goal of the publication and the organization is stated in
the document?s Foreword:
?This publication considers the impact of armed violence on
development and provides an overview of UNDP support to more than 40
countries to address issues of small arms control, armed violence
reduction and the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of
ex-combatants. It highlights how UNDP?s approach to these important
issues of human security and development has evolved over the last few
years. Drawing on lessons learned, and the distillation of best
practice within the organization, it indicates possible future
directions for our work.?
The publication includes the societal impacts of unregulated small
arms distributions, strategies already employed by the UNDP, as well
as future goals for the organization.
http://www.undp.org/bcpr/smallarms/docs/publication_07_05.pdf
This is an overview site of the Small Arms and Demobilization Unit of the UNDP.
http://www.undp.org/bcpr/smallarms/index.htm
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Here is a publication posted on the Economists Allied for Arms
Reduction (ECAAR) website. It is a collection of papers presented at
the United Nations 1999 Symposium on Disarmament and Development. Of
particular interest is the article by Michael Klare entitled ?Small
Arms Proliferation and its Impact on Security and Development.? In it
he discusses four general categories of strategies for controlling
small arms trafficking. This could be fodder for interesting
discussion. Emmanuel Erskine?s ?Disarmament, Demobilization and
Reintegration in Post-Conflict Situations? is another interesting
article detailing procedures for procuring disarmament.
http://www.ecaar.org/Articles/Disarm&Develop.PDF
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This fact sheet from the World Policy Institute details implications
of America?s Global War on Terror. Among the issues raised is that of
peacekeeping forces. While they may at times seem to be justified, the
training programs and equipment necessary in these missions can then
be used in other internal repressions or conflicts with neighboring
countries.
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/AfricaMarch2005.html
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This is a collection of links from the World History Archives. Among
them are opinion papers regarding recent presidential policies
regarding Africa, as well as thoughts on U.S. involvement in regional
conflicts.
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/index-dae.html
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Here is a fact sheet from the World Policy Institute discussing U.S.
arms in the Congo War. It includes discussion regarding the economic
impact of proliferating arms in the region. It also includes some
policy recommendations about restricting arms flow as well as military
training programs.
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/congo.htm
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This is another article from Africa Recovery discussing the effects of
small arms trafficking in Africa. It addresses inadequate recovery of
weapons following conflict, rising crime rates, and challenging the
?culture of violence? prevalent in many African nations.
http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol15no4/154arms.htm
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This is a 2000 opinion piece discussing the long-term economic damages
done by years of arms transfers to African nations.
http://www.bu.edu/globalbeat/syndicate/Hartung021000.html
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The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) has a
number of publications referenced on their website,
http://www.unidir.org. Many of them are available for purchase only;
however, there are many that are available in PDF format from their
quarterly ?Disarmament Forum? journal. There is also a comprehensive,
searchable database with a plethora of information related to this
topic.
One such article begins with the following acknowledgement:
?This report is a joint initiative of the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Department for Disarmament
Affairs (UNDDA) and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament
Research (UNIDIR), in cooperation with Small Arms Survey, as part of a
project entitled ?Capacity Development for Reporting to the UN
Programme of Action on Small Arms?.
It goes on to detail statistics and recommended plans relating to
disarmament at local and global levels.
http://www.unidir.ch/pdf/articles/pdf-art2258.pdf
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While June may be too far away for your next discussion, keep an eye
on proceedings from the U.N.?s 2006 Small Arms Review Conference.
http://www.un.org/events/smallarms2006/index.html
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Well, that?s more than 18 and yet it?s barely scraping the surface
with regard to such a broad, important topic. I?m confident that these
articles, publications, organizations, and resources are excellent
fodder for group discussion on the topics of the reduction of arms in
Africa and post-war disarmament in general. I wish you luck in your
discussion (and finals and graduation and . . . )! Should you have
need of any further clarification, please let me know how I can help!
Sincerely,
Boquinha-ga
Search terms:
Arms reduction Africa
Arms reduction policy Africa
Arms Africa
Arms Africa policy |
Clarification of Answer by
boquinha-ga
on
27 Apr 2006 12:03 PDT
Hello lovetoflip-ga!
I?m glad that what you?ve received so far has been useful. I ran
another search to find some additional information about surplus arms
in Africa. This was a topic I remember seeing fairly often in my
initial research.
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In 1998, a collaboration between two nongovernmental organizations,
Safeworld of the U.K., and Institute for Security Studies of South
Africa proposed areas of concern and potential efforts to better
control gun trafficking. Among other things, one of the areas of focus
was:
?Promoting the removal of arms from society and the destruction of
surplus arms by means of collection, removal from circulation, and
destruction of surplus military stocks, removing confiscated and
unlicensed weapons from circulation, undertaking voluntary weapon
collection and exchange programmes, and reversing the cultures of
gun-associated violence.?
http://www.iss.co.za/PUBS/Newsletters/OAU/OAUISS1.html
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In a 2000 article from the Acronym Institute, a U.K. organization for
international disarmament, they wrote about issues that need to be
addressed in order to control illegal gun trafficking. One specific
issue is that of the destruction of surplus weapons. As a lead up to a
2001 U.N. conference about small arms, they stated that important
points regarding the removal of arms and destruction of surplus arms
were:
* Removing illicit, surplus and unlicensed weapons from circulation
and ensuring its destruction
* Effective disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants;
* Enhancing the capacity of states to provide citizens with a secure environment.
http://www.acronym.org.uk/dd/dd49/49small.htm
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In June 2001, the U.N. held the United Nations Conference on the
Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.
During this conference member nations adopted resolutions to improve
the control of small arms trafficking, including a number of points
aimed at the destruction of weapons and disarmament following regional
conflict. The home page for the conference can be found at:
http://disarmament.un.org/cab/smallarms/
The adopted Programme of Action includes recommendations on national,
regional, and global levels.
http://disarmament.un.org/update/jun2001/article2.htm
Here is the complete conference report, including the resolution
adopted at this meeting.
http://disarmament.un.org/cab/smallarms/files/aconf192_15.pdf
Here is a 2001 newsletter from the U.N. Department of Disarmament
Affairs. It discusses many of the outcomes and concerns of the
Conference.
http://disarmament.un.org/update/jun2001/jun2001.pdf
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The Center for Defense Information issues press releases and collects
information regarding (among other thing) progress and policies about
small arms trafficking and disarmament. An interesting link there, ?
United States Weakens Outcome of UN Small Arms and Light Weapons
Conference,? links to an article about some obstacles to the
above-mentioned 2001 Small Arms Conference. The U.S. was against some
of the limitations proposed, including limiting access to nonmilitary
weapons. China was opposed to imprinting and tracking weapons so that
an accounting can be made, and so they can be retrieved more easily.
It could make for interesting discussion material.
http://www.cdi.org/issues/armstrade/sm_arms.html
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The U.N. Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA) meets at least
annually in conjunction with General Assembly meetings and discusses
and adopts resolutions to promote global disarmament issues. In March
2004, the department adopted a resolution to invite member nations to
make plans to limit the trafficking of small arms, and also to
increase small arms control measures. Another resolution proposes to
assist nations destroy surplus small arms. The complete list of
resolutions can be found at:
http://disarmament.un.org/ddapublications/ResDec/ResDes2003.pdf
Here is an extensive list of resolutions, conference proceedings, and
other documents that may be of interest.
http://disarmament.un.org/ddapublications/
In a press release from the U.N. surrounding the 2003 proceedings of
the DDA, it points out that out of the 163 participating member
nations, the U.S. was the only one to vote against drafted resolutions
aimed at improving disarmament procedures. The U.S. cited fiscal
concerns as its motivating factor.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/gadis3269.doc.htm
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I hope that this additional information suits your needs. If you need
clarification please let me know how I can help. Good luck with the
discussions!
Sincerely,
Boquinha-ga
Additional search terms:
"surplus arms" Africa policy
United Nations "The Illicit Trade in Small Arms"
Disarmament policy Africa ?small arms?
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