OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation debates need to reinforce efforts to prevent uncontrolled spread of small arms and light weapons

The mobilization of the international community is vital for combating the uncontrolled proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW), said speakers in the session of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation on 17 May 2017 in Vienna.

Eric Danon, Deputy General Director for Political and Security Affairs in the Foreign Ministry of France, said that the uncontrolled dissemination of small arms presents a serious threat to international security, sustainable development and respect for human rights and international humanitarian law.

“It is now estimated that small arms and light weapons account for 90 per cent of the victims of armed conflict and kill more than any other type of weapon in the world,” Danon said, adding that they fuel organized crime, terrorism and conflict.

Referring to the urgency of countering this threat, Danon noted that several of the terrorist attacks that in recent years have targeted France and a number of other OSCE participating States were committed with small arms procured through transnational illegal trade.

Vladislav Antonyuk, Deputy Director of the Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Issues in the Foreign Ministry of Russia, also expressed concern about the danger of SALW falling into the wrong hands. He said that “SALW remains one of the most used types of weapons in regional and local conflicts, surpassing other categories of weapons in terms of the number of human casualties resulting from its combat use.”

He highlighted the importance of strengthening control over all stages of the life cycle of weapons – from production to disposal –  to prevent their illegal spread.

Mercedes Soriano, Inspector of the General Commissary of Information of the Spanish Interior Ministry, shared the concern about the use of SALW in terrorist attacks, saying that their availability on the global level has increased. Soriano mentioned efforts of her country to track such weapons and gather intelligence on arms traffickers as well as to co-operate with international and regional organizations.

At the meeting, Himayu Shiotani, Programme Lead for Conventional Arms at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, presented his institute’s work on preventing the uncontrolled spread of small arms and light weapons.