Guns in the Pacific region have the potential to create chaos
Guns in the Pacific region have the potential to create chaos, economic damage and social disruption, a just-completed conference has been told, reports Radio Australia.
The meeting of Pacific Island officials in Sydney, Australia, was sponsored by the United Nations Disarmament Office and the Australian Government.
It looked at the scale of the problem and initiatives to tackle it.
It was chaired by Mexico's Pueblo Macedo, at his first meeting in charge of steering UN initiatives to limit the global trade in illegal weapons.
As participants from troubled Pacific nations know too well, and as Dr Phillip Alpers, a Sydney University public health academic, told the two-day gathering: “Even a very small number of guns can turn a community to chaos very quickly.
“It only took a car-boot load of guns in the Fiji coup.
“It only took one police armoury to be raided and emptied of all of its guns in the Solomon Islands" for law and order to break down.
Mr Macedo, incoming chairman of the UN committee on small arms and light weapons, said the Pacific does have problems with guns - like his home country.
“They are similar to the ones we have in Mexico, not as big though. But they have the same affects, the same consequences (on) social, economic and political stability.”
Ema Tagicakabau, from the Fiji based Pacific Concerns Resource Centre, said illicit weapons are not the biggest problem in her country.
“Until and unless they manage these legitimate users and subject them to international human rights law . . . subject them to (responsibility for) the violations of these laws, there is really not going to be much progress.”
Mathew Leslie, security adviser to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat programme the forum had developed a model weapons control bill for member countries.
Significantly, it was also developing a control-of-ammunition project, looking at legislation to provide a sole distributor of ammunition in each country, which would be law enforcement within a Pacific Island.
“That then enables control over use of small arms and light weapons.” Mr Leslie said.
“By control, I mean somebody requests or wants ammunition, they have to then take their firearm to a police station, where it will be registered, the licence will be checked and educational literature will be provided to the gun owner for firearm safety and awareness in handling.”
SOURCE: RADAUS/PACNEWS
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