wfn.org | WCC Oral Intervention on reduction of demand for small arms...

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Update, Up-01-23
For Immediate Use
16 July 2001

Oral Intervention on reduction of demand for small arms and the role of faith communities

cf. WCC Press Release, PR-01-20, of 6 July 2001 

The following is the full text of the intervention delivered today by Ms. Salpy Eskidjian for the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects being held in New York, USA:  

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to address you from the perspective of a world-wide faith community. Like others of the world's many faith groups woven into the fabric of human societies, the World Council of Churches speaks out of local and global realities. On a daily basis local churches, as well as mosques, synagogues, temples and other local religious ministries, attend to the victims of gun violence. We witness first-hand the impact of endemic poverty, human rights abuses, and political exclusion on people in their homes and communities, and we understand why some are driven to seek security through guns.  

In our global role, speaking on behalf of a worldwide fellowship of churches, we put before you one primary and urgent appeal - that the final document of this conference acknowledge that unless the overwhelming insecurities of people are effectively addressed, the heavy demand for small arms and light weapons will continue to frustrate even the best of efforts to control them.  

As the UN Experts Groups noted in its 1997 report, when states lose control over essential security functions and fail to maintain the basic human security of their citizens, the subsequent growth of armed violence, banditry and organized crime increases the demand for weapons by citizens seeking to protect themselves and their property (see A/52/298, para. 42). Such demand is obviously and especially strong in the world's many ongoing armed conflicts, but it is also disturbingly present in urban communities of the global north, as well as the south. And the only means of reducing that demand for weapons is through social, political, and economic change that creates other options and offers genuine protection to people. The pursuit of such change must engage a range of peace-building, development, governance, and social justice imperatives.  

The centrality of demand reduction to the prevention of illicit gun use and trading is inadequately reflected in the draft Program of Action in L 4 (Rev 1). Paragraph 20 of the Preamble outlines broadly the means by which states intend to "prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons," and it would be significantly strengthened by the addition of a sub-paragraph on demand reduction. We offer the following formulation, drawing in part on the Bamako Declaration of 2000, for your consideration:  

"Recognizing that to address the problem of the illicit trade in SALW (Small Arms and Light Weapons) in all its aspects in a comprehensive, integrated, and sustainable manner, it is necessary to reduce the demand for weapons through measures that promote the strengthening of democracy, respect for human rights, the rule of law and good governance, as well as economic recovery and equitable growth, and other measures such as reform of the security sector and programmes to reverse cultures of violence and to create cultures of peace."  

We also urge that the Programme of Action emerging from this conference specifically acknowledge that demand reduction efforts require new and extensive infusions of resources, and here we urge that the commitment of states to render assistance (contained in Section III, paragraph 3) be strengthened by including the appeal, contained in the Nairobi Declaration of 2000, for: "increased international support for programmes and initiatives that advance human security and promote conditions conducive to long-term peace, stability and development".  

Churches and other faith communities are especially aware that the extraordinary humanitarian problems posed by small arms and light weapons cannot be solved by states on their own. We stand ready to work in partnership with governments and other elements of civil society to reduce demand for, and enhance control of, small arms and light weapons as one key step toward achieving true human security.  

For further information, please contact Media Relations Office,    Tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53   	

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The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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