Putting
Children and Civilians First in the Fight
Against Small Arms and Light Weapons
Address to
the Seminar on the Implementation of
The United
Nations Programme of Action on Small Arms
and
Light Weapons
in Southeast Asia by the
Hon. David
Kilgour, P.C. M.P.
Secretary
of State (Asia-Pacific)
Edsa Shangri-La
Hotel, Manila, July
9, 2002
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Delivery
Excellencies,
Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great
pleasure for my colleague, Member of Parliament
for a Montreal riding, a Deputy Speaker
of the House of Commons and former Parliamentary
Secretary to the Minister of Justice, Eleni
Bakopanos, Ambassador Collette and myself
to be with you today.
We are here
to follow up on a concept initiated by our
colleague - my predecessor - Dr. Rey Pagtakhan,
who, along with Secretary Lina, attended
the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in
Small Arms and Light Weapons in New York
one year ago. It was on the margins of that
conference that the two came up with the
idea to build on the close cooperation between
the Philippines and Canada to organize this
regional seminar.
During President
Arroyo’s visit to Canada earlier this
year, she and the Prime Minister of Canada
reaffirmed this commitment through a letter
of intent to co-host this seminar.
The fundamental
point that we need to keep in mind during
our discussions over the next two days is
that the proliferation and availability
of small arms lead to human insecurity and
an increase in the risk of wider violent
conflicts setting back and often reversing
development gains.
Those of
us here today should go forward with one
objective in mind: to alleviate the suffering
and insecurity triggered by the proliferation
of small weapons. Ultimately our goal is
to create a better future for the children
of Southeast Asia and be an example for
the rest of the world.
We have a
roadmap: the UN Program of Action created
in New York last year outlines what needs
to be done. The challenge we face is to
make sure that this proposal is translated
into concrete action. Talk without action
is worse than useless because it raises
expectations.
The need
for action is indisputable: there are at
least 600 million small arms in circulation
today. They have been the weapons of choice
in 46 of 49 major conflicts since 1990.
An estimated 500 000 people around the world
are killed by them every year - more than
80% of whom are women and children. This
is absolutely unacceptable! How can the
world tolerate it?
We live in
a world where crime is often glamorized.
As a former prosecutor of serious crimes,
including murder, I have often said that
if commercial television and movies represented
accurately what a .303 rifle or .45 revolver
do to a human being, there might be a lot
fewer smaller weapons in circulation.
A report
published by the American Psychological
Association shows the average child in the
U.S. has seen 8,000 deaths and 100,000 other
acts of violence on television by the time
they leave elementary school. Is it any
wonder that small arms are proliferating?
We are drowning in a "gun-culture".
Small arms
pose an enormous humanitarian challenge,
particularly in internal conflicts where
insurgent militias or other non-state actors
fight against government forces or one another.
In these conflicts, a high proportion of
the casualties tend to be civilians, often
the deliberate targets of violence. Such
conflicts, fueled as they are by weapons,
have resulted in millions of deaths and
injuries, the displacement of millions,
and heightened regional insecurities in
many parts of the world.
Easy access
to small arms encourages violence as an
option to settle differences. Easy access
also tends to lengthen conflicts and, perhaps
a self-evident point, render them more deadly.
The challenges
of controlling small arms are complex, but
essentially come down to questions of supply
and demand. It is generally accepted that
the majority of small arms and light weapons
are legally produced. It is only after the
weapons are transferred or sold, in some
cases several times, that the weapons become
illegal. Today small arms and light weapons
are very rarely new weapons; instead the
market source is primarily from the existing
global stockpiles.
How to reduce
demand remains a necessary consideration
when launching “supply-side” initiatives.
Reducing the demand for smalls arms often
involves addressing some of the longer term
and structural problems in those countries
were guns abound: most obviously poverty,
good governance, and the prestige associated
with owning a weapon that exists in many
places. Choking the supply of small arms,
in the long term, also improves individuals’
quality of life. This in turn lowers demand.
Canada is
working to reduce the demand for small arms
and light weapons at home and abroad through
the promotion of democracy and the rule
of law and through conflict prevention.
Small arms must no longer be seen as tools
for survival.
Since 1997,
Canada has invested more in crime prevention.
Experts acknowledge that if resources are
channeled primarily into prevention, the
long term costs of crime – both human
and economic – will be reduced. Prevention
efforts include community policing, reducing
opportunities for crime, and altering conditions
that breed crime.
Our efforts
to control the supply focus on the international
community’s ability to oersee effectively
and regulate transnational weapons transfers,
including national controls, stockpile security
and management, and the marking and tracing
of arms.
The campaign
to reduce the proliferation of small arms
is complicated and requires a sustained,
holistic approach. To encourage this, we
are sponsoring regional conference projects.
·
Canada and nine partners co-sponsored The
African Conference on the Implementation
of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms
held in South Africa earlier this year.
·
In Central Asia, there has been ongoing
coordination with the Organization for Security
and Co-operation (OSCE) in Europe to conduct
workshops on a number of topics, including
control and licensing of manufacture, export,
import and transit of small arms; marking,
record-keeping and tracing; secure storage
of small arms stockpiles; and destruction
of surplus weapons.
·
Last year Canada sponsored a Central American
seminar similar to this one. Work at that
seminar led to a regional meeting that produced
an action plan for the region.
·
In Europe, we have sponsored several projects
to destroy ammunitions and small arms, in
particular in the Balkans.
In Southeast
Asia, as elsewhere, there has been a decline
in the number, frequency, and even the future
likelihood of interstate conflicts. However,
there are still a number of intra-state
conflicts - ones commonly fueled by small
arms.
New initiatives
could allow for tailored national policies
that ensure both sovereignty and a cohesive
regional effort:
·
Countries faced with the problem of significant
‘weaponization’ should work actively
at getting unlicensed firearms off the street.
Effort undertaken jointly by the police
and military here in the Philippines, for
example, have been very useful.
·
Countries with significant problems of ‘leakage’
from national military or other legal stocks
through theft or poor regulation must assume
national responsibility and tighten stockpile
control.
·
The illicit trade in weapons and their smuggling
is not just a national concern. It is a
subject that requires effective international
cooperation. No borders are completely secure
from the problem of illicit trafficking
of small arms. With the longest unprotected
border in the world, Canadians know all
too well the challenges of border control.
In countries that are made up of many islands,
these challenges multiply. In the Philippines,
for example, there are approximately 775,000
legally registered guns, but police here
estimate there are some 2 million illegal
ones in circulation.
·
We must all recognize that international
cooperation does not mean an erosion of
national sovereignty. Recently we have seen
excellent examples of this co-operation.
The growing success of the Ottawa Convention
on Landmines is an encouragement to us all
to work multilaterally on such issues. The
recently concluded regional security agreement
signed by Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand
and the Philippines also demonstrates that
countries can work together in combating
a common problem.
·
Domestic and regional efforts to control
the illegal drug scrouge are essential because
drug cartels form armed groups and create
supply channels through which weapons can
be shipped.
·
Following conflict, any nation under re-construction
faces the challenge of reducing the supply
of weapons, as well as ensuring that their
presence does not compromise stabilization
efforts.
·
Each country's legal system - including
regional extradition treaties - need to
specifically acknowledge the problem of
small weapons. It must not be possible for
a drug trafficker, for example, to be deported
and tried for dealing in heroin but not
persecuted for carrying weapons across the
same channel.
All countries
must also see the proliferation of small
arms and light weapons as a very real threat
to economic development:
Instability
and the obstruction of regular economic
activities is a major deterrent to job-creating
foreign investment and tourism. Southeast
Asia should be seen as an increasingly attractive
place for foreigners to invest in, and an
increasingly safe one for individuals to
visit. For a region with as much to offer
tourists (particularly Canadian ones used
to long winters), the idea of tourist industries
here not thriving here is unthinkable!
One of the
most most dismaying features of some recent
conflicts involves the impact on children.
Consider these facts:
·
Two million children have been killed and
some six million more psychologically damaged,
seriously injured, or permanently disabled
in conflict in the last decade.
·
An estimated 22 million more children have
been displaced by war within and outside
their own countries.
Listen to
the words of this child. "I killed
another child. I did this three times. Now
I see dead people and blood in my dreams
and I know the spirits of the children are
coming to haunt me." What king of future
can we expect for this boy?
This month
marks the one-year anniversary of the Canada-commissioned
study on this aspect of the issue done by
the NGO coalition called ‘Biting the
Bullet’. How smaller arms and light
weapons have routinely destroyed the hope
of future generations becomes clear with
a detailed look at child soldiering: a heightened
risk of displacement, deep psychological
trauma, a culture of violence, and loss
of opportunity. We hope that the recommendations
of this study will contribute to global
and regional efforts to mitigate the negative
effects of small arms on children everywhere.
Children
enveloped by a culture of solving conflict
through violence lose out on an education.
They miss out on their right to enjoy their
childhood. They skip their chance to be
constructive, contributing members of society.
In a world where growth depends so heavily
on the strength of our youth, these losses
are completely unacceptable.
Regional
conferences can work: they can and must
produce concrete results. It is our task
over the next two days to craft solutions
suited to Southeast Asians. Regional agreements
should integrate UN processes and other
regional and sub-regional activities.
This type
of integration will not be possible without
constant work and resources of non-governmental
sectors. As in the process leading up to
the Ottawa Convention on Land Mines, NGOs
have been a driving force in the campaign
to eliminate small arms. Your contributions
are essential and your presence here today
is most encouraging.
Conclusion
A year ago,
at the UN Conference, the international
community recognized that we must collectively
act to counter the threat posed by smaller
weapons to human beings. All of us are also
determined to reduce the human suffering
caused by them. The overarching objective
is not simply fewer guns but a safer environment
for all. The challenge now is for governments,
together in partnership with international
organizations and civil society, to deliver
on this urgent agenda.
Mrs. Bakopanos,
Canadians generally, and I extend our warmest
thanks to our Filipino co-hosts and wish
you every success in the challenging but
vitally important task you are about to
undertake.
Thank you.
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