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3. FEATURE EVENT

Small arms and gender: Where do we go from here?

A Review of the Small Arms and Light Weapons Review Conference, 26 June – 7 July 2006

By Susanna Kalitowski, IANSA Women’s Network Coordinator

Between 26 June and 7 July 2006, UN Member States met in New York to decide the future of the UN process on small arms and light weapons (SALW). In 2001, States negotiated the Program of Action (PoA), a non-legally binding international agreement to tackle the illicit trade in SALW in all its aspects. They agreed to hold two reporting meetings in 2003 and 2005 and to revaluate the content of the PoA at a Review Conference in 2006.

Taking their cue from the successful International Campaign to Ban Landmines, members of global civil society have been closely involved in the small arms process from its onset and have organized themselves under the banner of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), which is currently made up of over 700 civil society organizations working in 110 countries.

IANSA members had high hopes for the Review Conference. They have long argued that the PoA fails to address crucial components of the global small arms crisis, which continues to kill 1000 people per day. However, there were signs of real progress during the 2003 and 2005 reporting conferences when a large number of States echoed their concerns in their national statements. IANSA members and a host of likeminded States, mostly from Africa, Europe, and Latin America, reiterated the need for the PoA to address, among other things, human rights, the regulation of small arms in the hands of civilians, the problem of arms transfers to non-state actors, the link between small arms and development, assistance to survivors of small arms violence, and the highly gendered nature of gun misuse and gun injury.

The PoA only makes a single reference to gender in its preamble, where it carelessly lumps women with children and the elderly. However, the global gun violence epidemic affects men and women differently. The vast majority – around 90% – of direct victims and perpetrators of gun violence are men. But women suffer disproportionately given that they are rarely gun owners and users, and they experience gun violence differently to men. For example, they are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence at gunpoint. Unlike men, they are more likely to be killed by someone they know, often in their own homes and with a legally-owned gun. The PoA only addresses illicitly-held guns.

Partly in response to the weakness of the PoA, the IANSA Women’s Network was founded to connect activists, advocates, policy experts, and researchers around the world who are producing much-needed information about the different ways that women, women, girls and boys are affected by and respond to gun violence. Many of these impressive women were present throughout the Review Conference, as NGO delegates on national delegations, speakers at side events (notably the IANSA Women’s Network panel discussion, ‘Women and guns: voices from the front line’) and the IANSA presentation to the plenary, and advocates in governmental meetings.

At the Review Conference, the Women’s Network called for the inclusion of gendered language, including a specific mention of men and the explicit recognition of the role of women’s organizations in preventing, combating and eradicating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects in the text of the Conference Outcome Document.

It is clear that a large number of States supported our recommendations because a paragraph specifically referring to gender and to Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security consistently appeared in a number of versions of the draft Outcome Document produced by the President, Ambassador Kariyawasam of Sri Lanka, before and throughout the Conference, including in the his last substantial draft of 3 July.

However, despite the efforts of the majority of governments to secure a strengthened PoA, agreement on almost all the major issues was blocked by a handful of states, notably the US. In the end, the Review Conference failed to produce an Outcome Document, leaving the entire small arms process in question. The shape of any future process will now have to be resolved during the First Committee in October 2006.

It is now more vital than ever that States, international organizations and civil society begin to proactively mainstream gender in small arms policy and practice at all levels. Failure to recognize that gun violence affects men and women differently and that men make up the majority of gun violence will mean that projects, activities and interventions will miss the mark when it comes to reducing the suffering.

A wide range of practical information has been generated since 2001 to assist policymakers with this work. The IANSA Women’s Network has produced a resource paper, ‘Gender-specific action to prevent all arms violence,’ which offers nine concrete recommendations on how to integrate gender into small arms policy and practice; the UN Coordinating Action on Small Arms (CASA) has produced detailed guidelines on how to mainstream gender in the implementation of the PoA; and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue has written a policy brief focusing specifically on men and guns, which also offers policy suggestions and questions for further research.

Now is also the time to utilize existing binding international law to our best advantage. It is essential that States begin to recognize that the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 will play a vital role in combating the illicit trade in small arms in all its aspects, and that it should be interpreted to mean that women should be wholly involved in all small arms policy and practice. A number of Women’s Network members are also calling for 1325 to be interpreted to apply to ‘peaceful’ States that are plagued by high levels of armed violence such as Brazil and El Salvador.

The way ahead has been charted, and the IANSA Women’s Network will continue working with States and civil society to make sure that gender is accurately reflected in small arms work all over the world.

To help us accomplish this goal, we are seeking the involvement of all organizations interested in gender and disarmament.

For further information, write to Susanna Kalitowski, Women’s Network Coordinator, at women@iansa.org.