United Nations Radio

small arms cache

The global trade in small arms continues to rise according to a survey launched on Thursday by the UN Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva.  Shadows of War looks at the transfer of weapons, disarmament in post-war situations, and measures to regulate and control small arms proliferation. Robert Muggah is the survey's research director.

MUGGAH: We think that focusing on armed violence, prevention and reduction is of course important in its own right. But managing and reducing armed violence is also essential for achieving longer term recovery and development, including the achievement of the MDGs, the Millennium Development Goals.

NARR: UN figures peg the authorized trade in small arms at just under $3 billion in 2006-more than $650 million dollars higher than in the year 2000, says the survey's managing director Eric Berman.

BERMAN: We might have thought that with the increased military deployments in places such as Afghanistan or Iran, or with the huge increase in terms of UN peacekeeping, that that would explain this 28 per cent increase. But actually, it's those very weapons-the military weapons-that have had a decrease. So what we find is that it's more the civilian weapons transferred that explains this very significant increase over the seven year period.

NARR: The United States leads the world in small arms exports, with more than $640 million worth of pistols, rifles, sporting guns and other such weapons shipped in 2006. Italy, Germany, Brazil, Austria and Belgium, are also leading exporters. Berman says these nations are consistently among the top exporters of small weapons.

BERMAN: What we believe is that added to this, China and Russia-if they were more transparent, or if the countries they exported to were more transparent-we would believe that they also would merit to be on this six-country list.

NARR: He adds that the USA is also the world's top importer of small weapons, followed by France, Japan and Canada, South Korea, Germany and Australia.

BERMAN: Compared to the major exporters which are very consistent, there's greater fluctuation amongst the major importers. Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Egypt and the Netherlands have all at one point in the last five years, they have imported at least $100 million worth of small arms.

NARR: The annual survey advocates for more transparency in countries' reporting procedures on small arms transfers. And, once again, Iran and North Korea have been deemed the world's least forthcoming nations in this regard.

Producer: Dianne Penn
Duration: 2'28"