Small Arms and Light Weapons

Small Arms and Light Weapons

·        introduction

Small Arms and lightweight Weapons (SALW) refers in limitation protocols to 2 main categories of man moveable weapons.

“Small arms” area unit, broadly, firearms designed for individual use. They include: handguns (revolvers and pistols), machine pistols, shotguns, rifles, carbines, submachine guns, personal defense weapons, assault rifles, battle rifles, designated marksman rifles, sniper rifles, squad automatic weapons, and light machine guns.

“Light weapons” area unit, broadly, crew-served machine guns and high-explosive projectile weapons. They include: anti-materiel rifles, general machine guns, medium machine guns, serious machine guns, grenades, rifle grenades, grenade launchers, underslung grenade launchers, automatic grenade launchers, anti-tank rifles, recoilless rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, portable anti-tank missiles, portable air-defense systems, and mortars of a calibre of but one hundred millimetres

Small Arms and Light Weapons also include ammunition, explosives, hand grenades, land mines and any other man portable weapons not listed above.

·        Definition by international legal conventions

According to the UN workplace on medication and Crime, the international framework on firearms consists of 3 main instruments: the Firearms Protocol, the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit exchange little Arms and lightweight Weapons all told Its Aspects (Programme of Action, or PoA) and therefore the International Instrument to alter States to Identify and Trace, during a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit tiny Arms and lightweight Weapons (International Tracing Instrument, or ITI), wherever solely the Firearms Protocol is lawfully binding.

The ITI, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 8 December 2005, defines small arms and light weapons as:

any man-portable lethal weapon that expels or launches, is designed to expel or launch, or may be readily converted to expel or launch a shot, bullet or projectile by the action of associate degree explosive, excluding antique tiny arms and lightweight weapons or their replicas. Antique tiny arms and lightweight weapons and their replicas are outlined in accordance with domestic law. In no case can antique tiny arms and lightweight weapons embrace those factory-made once 1899:

(a) “Small arms” area unit, broadly, weapons designed for individual use. They include, inter alia, revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, sub-machine guns, assault rifles and light machine guns;

(b) “Light weapons” area unit, generally, weapons designed for use by two or three persons serving as a crew, although some may be carried and used by a single person. They embrace, inter alia, general purpose or universal machine guns, medium machine guns, heavy machine guns, rifle grenades, under-barrel grenade launchers and mounted grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft guns, portable anti-tank guns, recoilless rifles, man portable launchers of anti-tank missile and rocket systems, man portable launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems, and mortars of a calibre of less than 100 millimetres.[2]

Such limitation policies and treaties area unit centered on international arms trafficking (importation and export), and within the standardization of laws, protocols and sharing of enforcement data and best practices across nations to prevent illicit arms sales. They conjointly concentrate on act of terrorism, arms proliferation as a humanitarian concern, disarming within the face of maximum violence, and cases of ameliorating anarchy, civil war and international conflict. SALW provisions are generally not oriented towards imposing or enforcing domestic national or local legislation of legitimate gun ownership or sale.

·        UN SALW control efforts

Small arms and lightweight weapons area unit utilized in conflicts round the world, inflicting injury and death.[6] Small arms control was first broached by UN Resolution A/RES/46/36 (December 1991), which was expanded upon by A/RES/50/70 (January 1996).[7] This latter resolution mandated a panel of consultants to analysis the kind of tiny arms and lightweight weapons being employed within the world's conflicts and to review that weapons may apply to constitute associate degree limitation regime. The recommendations of expert reports returned to the General Assembly, A/52/298 (1997) and A/54/258 (1999)[8] led to a July 2001 United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms, with a follow-up in July 2006.

On twenty six September 2013 the international organization Security Council passed Resolution 2117, that urged nations to stay committed to tiny arms embargoes and SALW management protocols

Work on SALW via the United Nations is coordinated by the workplace for disarming Affairs (UNODA), tho' the world organisation coordinative Action on tiny Arms (CASA) mechanism, that contains twenty one global organization departments and agencies performing on completely different aspects of tiny arms and lightweight weapons management.The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), carries out research in arms control affairs and has printed several articles and books associated with tiny arms and lightweight weapons.

On two April 2013, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to adopt the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to govern the legal international trade in many types of conventional weapons, from warships and craft to tiny arms and lightweight weapons. A basic obligation of the treaty is that all States Parties should establish or maintain controls in the area. In this method, the treaty also helps the international community to address unregulated or illegal trade in conventional weapons. The pact opened for signature on three June 2013. To date, common fraction of world organization member states have signed the accord (130 states), and 72 have ratified it. The treaty entered into force on December 24, 2014.

·        Other SALW regimes and control organizations

Many other related governmental bodies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also work on SALW control, major examples being IANSA, Saferworld and the Control Arms Campaign. Regional and sub-regional organizations performing on SALW management embrace the African Union, ECCAS, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Southern African Development Community, mountain chain Community, CARICOM, MERCOSUR, Organization of American States (OAS), European Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, ASEAN, the League of Arab States, and the Pacific Islands Forum.