Newsletter

AT THE SURVEY
June 2006

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Small Arms Survey newsletter.

Hot off the Press

Small Arms Survey 2006: Unfinished Business
The Small Arms Survey 2006: Unfinished Business offers new and updated information on small arms production, stockpiles, transfers, and measures, including a review of the International Tracing Instrument. This year‘s thematic chapters examine issues such as the demand for weapons, small arms and security sector reform, and the economic costs of small arms use. This edition also features case studies on small arms violence in Papua New Guinea and Colombia, armed groups in West Africa, and the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda. The final chapter–Angry Young Men–considers why young men account for the lion’s share of global small arms violence.


Armés mais désoeuvrés: Groupes armés, armes légères et sécurité humaine dans la région de la CEDEAO
Armed and Aimless, réalisé sous la direction de Nicolas Florquin et Eric G. Berman, vient d'être traduit en français par le Groupe de recherche et d’information sur la paix et la sécurité (GRIP). La version française, intitulée Armés mais désoeuvrés, passe en revue plus de 30 groupes armés qui ont opéré dans les états membres de la CEDEAO depuis 1998, l’année d’adoption du "Moratoire sur l’importation, l’exportation et la production d’armes légères en Afrique de l’Ouest".


La République Centrafricaine : Une étude de cas sur les armes légères et les conflits
Ce rapport spécial est basé principalement sur le chapitre sur la République Centrafricaine par Eric G. Berman, initialement publié en anglais dans le rapport annuel Small Arms Survey 2005. Il présente les résultats d’une enquête menée sur le terrain par l’auteur en 2003, ainsi qu’une courte mise à jour des évènements relatifs aux armes légères dans le pays pour les années 2003 à 2005. Le Small Arms Survey est reconnaissant envers le Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement (PNUD) pour avoir financé la traduction et la publication de ce rapport.


How Many Weapons Are There in Cambodia?
Our fourth Working Paper, written by Christina Wille, explains the evidence and logic for the small arms and light weapons stockpile estimates for Cambodia that are presented in the Small Arms Survey 2006 chapter and other recent publications on Cambodia. We currently estimate that there are 107,000–188,000 small arms and light weapons in government stockpiles, and 22,000–85,000 weapons outside of government control.


Five Years of Implementing the United Nations Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons: Regional Analysis of National Reports
Written by Elli Kytömäki and Valerie Yankey-Wayne, this volume was co-published with the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs (UNDDA).

In the Pipeline

Targeting Ammunition: A Primer
edited by Stéphanie Pézard and Holger Anders, co-published with CICS (University of Bradford), GRIP, SEESAC, and Viva Rio, with the financial support of the Government of Germany and a foreword by the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, June 2006.
This book provides a systematic review of the characteristics, processes, and challenges relating to ammunition for small arms and light weapons. It will be launched at the UN Review Conference in New York on Thursday, 29 June 2006.


No Refuge: The Crisis of Refugee Militarization in Africa
edited by Robert Muggah, co-produced with the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), published by Zed Books, July 2006.
The militarization of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), especially in Africa, is causing growing alarm within the humanitarian and development commonities. The planned and spontaneous arming of refugees and IDPs threatens access to asylum as well as protection. But while the policy debates rage over how to deal with armed refugees and how to prevent their spillover into neighbouring countries, surprisingly little research has been done to explain why displaced people arm themselves or how militarization affects the local and host populations. This book traces the experience of refugee and IDP militarization in four African countries emerging from or affected by war: Guinea, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. It considers the effects of such militarization on regional, national, and human security, and reflects on the responses of hosting governments and humanitarian organizations. The book will be launched at the UN Review Conference in New York on Wednesday, 5 July 2006.