Small arms and light weapons
Small arms and light weapons (SALW) refers in arms control protocols to two main classes of man-portable weapons.[1]
- "Small arms", broadly speaking, are individual-service (i.e. for carry and operation by individual
- "Light weapons", broadly speaking, are infantry-portable weapons that are either man-portable anti-tank missiles, man-portable air-defense systems, and mortars under 100 millimetres (3.9 in) caliber.[2]
Small Arms and Light Weapons also include
In contrast, the term "heavy weapons" generally refers to any other weapon systems that are too cumbersome for foot transportation and hence have to rely on fixed mounting platforms installed upon wheeled frames/vehicles, vessels, aircraft or fortifications for effective operation.
Definition by international legal conventions
According to the
The ITI, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 8 December 2005, defines small arms and light weapons as:[2]
any man-portable lethal weapon that expels or launches, is designed to expel or launch, or may be readily converted to expel or launch a shot, bullet or projectile by the action of an explosive, excluding antique small arms and light weapons or their replicas. Antique small arms and light weapons and their replicas will be defined in accordance with domestic law. In no case will antique small arms and light weapons include those manufactured after 1899:
(a) "Small arms" are, broadly speaking, weapons designed for individual use. They include, inter alia, revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, sub-machine guns, assault rifles and light machine guns;
(b) "Light weapons" are, broadly speaking, weapons designed for use by two or three persons serving as a crew, although some may be carried and used by a single person. They include, inter alia, general purpose or universal machine guns, medium machine guns, heavy machine guns, rifle grenades, under-barrel grenade launchers and mounted grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft guns, portable anti-tank guns, recoilless rifles, man portable launchers of anti-tank missile and rocket systems, man portable launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems, and mortars of a calibre of less than 100 millimetres.[2]
Such arms control policies and treaties are focused on international arms trafficking (importation and export), and in the standardization of laws, protocols and sharing of law enforcement information and best practices across nations to prevent illicit arms sales. They also focus on terrorism, arms proliferation as a humanitarian concern, disarmament in the face of extreme violence, and cases of ameliorating anarchy, civil war and international conflict. SALW provisions are generally not oriented towards imposing or enforcing domestic national or local legislation of legitimate gun ownership or sale.[4]
United Nations SALW control efforts
On 26 September 2013 the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2117, which urged nations to remain committed to small arms embargoes and SALW control protocols.[8]
Work on SALW via the United Nations is coordinated by the Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), though the UN Coordinating Action on Small Arms (CASA) mechanism, which comprises 21 UN departments and agencies working on different aspects of small arms and light weapons control.[9] The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), carries out research in arms control affairs and has published many articles and books related to small arms and light weapons.[10]
On 2 April 2013, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to adopt the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to govern the legal international trade in many types of conventional weapons, from warships and aircraft to small arms and light weapons.[11] A basic obligation of the treaty is that all States Parties should establish or maintain controls in the area. In this way, the treaty also helps the international community to address unregulated or illegal trade in conventional weapons. The treaty opened for signature on 3 June 2013. To date, two-thirds of UN member states have signed the treaty (130 states), and 72 have ratified it. The treaty entered into force on 24 December 2014.[12]
Global distribution of small arms
In 2018,
See also
- List of firearms
- List of most-produced firearms
- Small arms
- Small Arms Survey
- Small arms trade
- Arms Trade Treaty
- Gun control
- Gun politics
References
- ^ a b https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_52142.htm NATO, Small arms and light weapons (SALW) and mine action (MA)
- ^ a b c d "International Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapon" (PDF). unodc.org. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ "114th IPU Assembly: Substantive item 1".
- ^ "UNODA: Small Arms and Light Weapons". un.org. United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ "4.11 SALW Control, Security & Development". Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "General and complete disarmament: Transparency in armaments". un.org. United Nations. 15 January 1996. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
- ^ "Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Small Arms, 1999" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2011.
- ^ "Resolution 2117 (2013)". un.org. United Nations. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ "CASA Participants". Archived from the original on 23 September 2009.
- ^ "UNIDIR selected publications and activities related to small arms". Archived from the original on 10 June 2011.
- ^ "The Arms Trade Treaty". un.org. United Nations. 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ "United Nations Treaty Collection". treaties.un.org. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
- ^ a b c smallarmssurvey.org Small Arms Survey reveals: More than one billion firearms in the world
- ^ a b c smallarmssurvey.org Estimating Global CivilianHELD Firearms Numbers. Aaron Karp. June 2018
External links
- Arms Sales Monitoring Project Archived 13 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS)
- Small Arms and Light Weapons at United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA)
- Control Arms campaign
- Coordinating Action on Small Arms Archived 30 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine United Nations Programme of Action, Implementation Support System
- International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA)
- Mines Advisory Group (MAG)
- Project On Government Oversight (POGO) "small arms" search results
- Small Arms Survey
- SALW Knowledge Base Archived 22 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine at South Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC)
- United Nations Coordinating Action on Small Arms
- United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research
- UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office: Small Arms and Light Weapons
- The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies