Disarmament is the total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, through the prohibition of the development, production and use, and destruction of such weapons. It is the act of putting down weaponry, especially the decline and removal of military weapons. Non-proliferation is the prevention of the spread of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, it could be in the form of vertical non-proliferation, which is the spread of weapons to the states not currently processing nuclear weapons or vertical non-proliferation which increases in number and destructiveness of nuclear weapons within the state already possessing the weapons.
Small arms and light weapons are the real weapons of mass destruction, easy to use, conceal and also maintain, they are the basic tool of violence in almost every conflict. They cause devastation on a massive scale. Research shows that there are over a billion small arms and light weapons in the world, and over two hundred million of these are believed to be spread across Africa. Thirty per cent of those arms are said to be found in sub-Saharan Africa where people feel the brunt of insecurity and terrorism. The majority of these arms come from the diversion of mismanaged stockpiles by Nations making them available on the black market and from arms dealers.
A lot of the time when you see Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) propaganda, you can spot the United States-made guns, from terrorist organizations to drug cartels, to blood-thirsty trouble makers get weapons that should never have been in their hands in the first place somehow. People call it the ‘business of death, the global arms trade market is indeed booming and the number of dead victims of gun battles, armed gang crimes and terrorism keeps going over the roof. With the overwhelming number of arms being produced today, research shows that 87.5% of those weapons which number about a billion are in the hands of civilians.
According to the Small Arms Survey of 2018, there are over 40,009,000 small arms in the hands of civilians or non-state actors across Africa. In Nigeria, it was stated that the number of small arms in the hands of civilian criminals, terrorists and other non-state actors was estimated at 6,145,000, while the armed forces and law enforcement collectively accounted for 586,600 firearms. In Nigeria, the proliferation of these arms across various regions has resulted in violence, socio-economic upheavals and a sad upending of the fabrics of our society as we know it. The Defence Industries Corporation in Nigeria (DICON) is said to produce 5,000 units of BM59 riles per year and 18,000 units of SMG12 annually, specifically for use by the Nigerian Armed Forces, illicit arms on the other hand are obtained by enemies of the state in a variety of ways. The porous borders of the country translate to the fact that there’s the free flow of illegal weapons, some of the weapons that terrorists and criminals use have been identified to come from Niger, Ivorian or Libyan stockpiles, Ammunition from at least twenty-one different countries are said to have been used in just the pastoral conflicts in North-Central Nigeria.
According to the United Nations disarmament chief, nearly 50% of all violent deaths between 2010 and 2015, more than 200,000 each year, involved small arms and light weapons, billions of small arms are used in lethal violence prevalent in Africa, the Americas, Middle East and Southern Europe. The illicit flow of small arms has tragic impacts, including concerning violent extremism, throughout the African Sahel region, Central Africa and most parts of the Middle East. War-torn Libya, Southern Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria see a steady influx of weapons and ammunition and it should give us all cause for concern.
Small arms cause millions of displacement and food insecurity, it exacerbates the upshot of climate change, including the global high profile and serious conflicts. In Yemen, as of the end of 2019, an estimated 4 million people were internally displaced amidst devastating conflict facilitated by steady arms flows. The Small Arms Survey and Uppsala Conflict Data Program (SIPRI) estimates that the total value of the global arms trade in 2017 was at least $95billion and the top 100 arms companies made an estimated $398.2billion worth of sales in the same year. The United States is said to be the biggest exporter of arms and between 2014-2018 Saudi Arabia was the main recipient (22% of imports), other high exporting countries of arms 2014-2018 were Russia, France, Germany and China, together they all along with the USA accounted for 75% of global export of arms.
Research estimates that there are about 21 firearms for every 100 residents in the US, 53 in Yemen, 39 in Montenegro and Serbia, and 35 in Canada and Uruguay. In 2018, Venezuela and El Salvador had the highest rates of violent deaths by firearm. Death by guns grows by their numbers daily and it is heavily influenced by the rate of civilian gun ownership, gun violence and terrorism have become so prevalent in many Southern American, and Central American countries, due to drug cartels, in Africa and the Middle East terrorism have caused millions of deaths and that is thanks to the free flow of weapons.
New security concepts based on mutual trust, benefit, equality and cooperation must be established in Nigeria and on a global scale, the process which leads up to disarming the world is intertwined with the current global security situation. Arms-producing countries should be made to reduce their respective arms arsenals on the principle of irreversibility. Countries like the USA which are the highest producers of guns and other small arms must support the efforts to establish guns-free zones, respect the status of those zones and assume the relevant obligations. Treaties on non-proliferation should be observed in full and in good faith and a universal and verifiable fissile material cut-off treaty should be negotiated and concluded.
The government must implore the Immigration and Customs authorities to tighten their search at the borders to arrest the proliferation of illegal arms and the financiers of terrorism and those involved in illegal arms trade must be punished severely. The internal security officials must follow up on civilians who own weapons without a license and punish them thereby making it hard for small arms to freely be in the hands of civilians. As long as small arms are allowed to trade freely, those living inside and outside areas of armed conflict and political instability, irresponsible use of guns are a daily source of tragedy that impacts people around the World, globally, more than 2000 people die every day because of violence committed by firearms and we must do everything within our collective powers to change that.
Halima Imam
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