- The Problem
What are small arms and light weapons (SALW)?
The WCC and microdisarmament
Survey on initiatives to reduce violence through disarmament
Churches respond: Three stories of hope
Helpful links to other sites concerned with disarmament- The following page has been removed by WCC
- UPDATE: WCC supports micro disarmament initiatives: Signature Campaign in Brazil, and Bell Campaign in the USA
Small arms and light weapons are causing heavy casualties around the world. They are responsible for the deaths of more than three million people since 1990; up to 90% of them civilians. In addition to the loss of human life and the destruction of physical and social infrastructure they cause, the widespread availability of light weapons also serves to:
At a local level, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons is serving to fuel crime and foster a culture of violence. Moreover, illicit trade in light weapons is often associated with other criminal activities, such as terrorism, money laundering and the trafficking of drugs and other black-market commodities.
What are small arms and light weapons (SALW)?
While there are a variety of definitions of the term "small arms", they are generally defined as including all weapons that are person-portable. In addition to guns and rifles of all calibers, this would also include shoulder-fired rockets and missile launchers as well as anti-personnel landmines. A recent United Nations report provides the following definitions:
Disarmament issues in general have long been on the agenda of the ecumenical movement. During the cold war, the WCC and its member churches focused their efforts on nuclear disarmament and the dismantling of industrial military complexes.
In response to changing times, participants at the 1993 WCC consultation on "The Arms Trade Today" stressed "it is clear that the efforts of the churches must be directed towards overcoming the institutions of war and that breaking the flow of arms is a key element in such a process" (CCIA Background Information -The Arms Trade Today 1993/1).
The Programme to Overcome Violence (POV), established in 1994, and particularly its Peace to the City campaign has likewise highlighted the relationship between small arms and violence.
In 1997, after UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali called for the international community to direct its attention to "the weapons, most of them light weapons, that are actually killing people in the hundreds of thousands," the WCC central committee called for the POV to address the issue by giving "special attention to the concern for microdisarmament".
As a result, a consultation on the excessive accumulation and unlawful use of small arms was convened in Rio de Janeiro, May 1998. The final report of the consultation, Small Arms: Big Impact, concludes that "there is indeed a major role for the churches to play in small arms awareness and in small arms control and reduction at all levels of society, from the local to the international".
More recent WCC activities have included supporting the Mali Moratorium on Light Weapons in West Africa, developing the resource The Landmines Campaign Still Needs the Churches and helping to found the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA).
Survey on initiatives to reduce violence through microdisarmament
Recognizing that many churches are already involved in reducing violence through disarmament, the POV is compiling a resource list of those initiatives facilitated by WCC member churches and related organizations. Such initiatives may be based on any number of a broad spectrum of motivations for tackling small arms proliferation, including:
Initiatives may be related to curbing the supply of small arms, such as buy-back programmes, or related to reducing the demand for small arms, such as teaching alternative means of conflict resolution. The WCC recognizes that a wide range of projects which contribute to reducing the demand for small arms may not be specifically focused on microdisarmament, such as sustainable development, anti-poverty and job creation programmes. However, at this point we are collecting data on initiatives that deal specifically with curbing the proliferation of and unlawful use of small arms and light weapons.
From the information gathered in response to the survey we will create a database of existing microdisarmament initiatives and use that data to:
Churches respond: Three stories of hope
In all parts of the world, churches find themselves facing the consequences of small arms and light weapons proliferation. Churches often serve as the first point of contact for individuals who have suffered the violence caused by small and light weapons proliferation. Here are a few inspirational church-based initiatives designed to stop the spread and misuse of small arms and light weapons:
Some links to other sites with information on microdisarmament
Arms Sales Monitoring Project
British American Security Information Council
Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC)
Center for Defense Information
Emerging Issues in Conventional Disarmament
International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA)
Life & Peace Institute
Norwegian Initiative on Smalll Arms Transfers (NISAT)
Program for Arms Control, Disarmament and Conversion
SAFERWORLD: Working to promote practical solutions to armed conflicts
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
[Source: World Council of Churches Microdisarmament - 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland.]
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