UNCTAD
Arms and Illegal Trade
Illegal arms are responsible for thousands of deaths in civil wars every year. Although the media commonly displays its effects, the trade of illegal weaponry is very hard to detect. Illegal weapons are put into the wrong hands every day: anarchists, gangs, child soldiers and IED users are all common examples. Guns, bombs and other ordinance are some of the most universal illegal weapons. Conflicts caused by illegal weaponry, however, benefit weapons manufacturing companies because the conflicts increase demand for production. Illegally trading weapon companies, therefore, may encourage events that worsen hostilities. Publicly identifying international arms merchants seems to be the single most important initiative to combat illegal weapon flow, but this goal has proven elusive.
There has been an increased fear of “weapons of mass destruction” since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Due to the indiscriminate impact of WMDs, the fear of a WMD attack has shaped political policies and campaigns, fostered social movements, and has been the central theme of many films. Support for the level of WMD development and control varies nationally and internationally. Yet understanding of the nature of the threats is not broad, partly because of imprecise usage of the term by politicians and the media, often in order to generate public support for government policies.
The regulation of trade of large weapons, like WMDs, and trade of small weapons and light arms, has been a major issue. There has been a lack of regulation in the international arms trade due to increasing privatization. Arms brokers and transporters generally do not own the arms they arrange to sell and transfer, thus their activities often go unrecorded and uncontrolled. Because of this, we are often unaware of illegal arms trade, causing fear in many. The complexity of the arms brokering issue combined with a lack of understanding and political resistance demonstrates the need for international action. At the global level, progress has been made, with a growing number of governments instituting measures to deal explicitly with arms brokering, yet there is still much action to be taken.