Daunting task: Trying to control world gun trade

By Jim Anderson

WASHINGTON (DPA): A United Nations conference this week will begin to think about the unimaginable -- trying to dry up the global flood of small arms that kill 200,000 people each year, one quarter of them children.

The New York meeting will lay the groundwork for a full-scale conference next year, which will try to put together "a universal, comprehensive and non-discriminatory small arms control regime".

A "small arm" is defined as any firearm that can be fired by one person alone.

Controlling their spread is a daunting task, considering that there are now 500 million small arms in the world, or one for every 12 people on earth. Many of them are in the hands of warriors or bandits in the poorest countries.

About 85 percent of the arms are produced by the five countries that are the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

There are an estimated 5,000 arms traffickers in the world, exporting the weapons to eager buyers in the most troubled parts of the world -- such as Africa, where an AK-47 assault rifle can be picked up in a village market for the price of one goat.

So, how to attack such a huge task?

Michel Rocard, a former French prime minister and a member of a group of elder statesmen known as the "eminent persons' group," gave a hint of the strategy at a National Press Club news conference in Washington on Monday.

First of all, it is assumed that small arms are not analogous to landmines. They have legitimate uses -- such as in policing, national defense or hunting -- and the plan is not to try for a total ban, as is being attempted for landmines.

"Any idea of a general ban on small arms is out of the question," Rocard says. "We know that, and we are not proposing irresponsible things."

But, Rocard says, "small arms violence can be curtailed if we apply to small arms transfers the same levels of rigid and intrusive controls which apply to international trade in other commodities."

It is known that there is a link -- "an alliance of death" -- between the small arms trade and illicit commerce, including drug trafficking and diamond smuggling.

That is why, experts believe, controlling small arms trafficking would have the side effect of curbing illegal commerce, in addition to saving lives.

The process would begin by setting up a United Nations register that would take the first step of trying to get a grip on the size and commercial channels of the international trade.

Not surprisingly, the large arms producers are not enthusiastic about taking that first step, especially in the United States, where gun control is a passionate political issue.

But, says Rocard, arms producers usually turn out other products as well, which they often sell to their governments. Thus, Rocard says, there is an incentive "for the producers to be on good terms with their own governments, and they need international respectability."

The next step would be to regulate the arms traffickers, by means of licenses as well as mandatory third-party liability insurance for every weapon that is sold.

Under this code, the original seller of the arm could be traced and brought to justice if anybody is killed by that specific weapon.

This kind of regulation would be bound to give birth to an increased global black market in arms, just as there is for narcotics.

Under the strategy, the traders of the black-market arms business would be pursued and prosecuted in the same way that international heroin dealers are arrested and punished.

"The cost of trafficking must be increased," Rocard said.

"It must be punishable, even if it occurs abroad. The principle of extra-territoriality, already enforceable for the trade in human beings, should be extended to the illicit arms trade," with rules being enforced by the International Criminal Court.

Will this take time? Rocard estimates that putting the rules into place would take several years, followed by five to ten years in which the success of the strategy could be judged.

"We may not altogether succeed," he said, "but we will not fail for lack of trying."