Caught in the Crossfire: The Humanitarian Impacts of Small Arms

4 155 Amidst all of the debate about controlling the proliferation and misuse of small arms, there is a glaring, fundamental omission—the human face. Research and policy tends to focus on supply-related issues such as production and the mismanagement of stockpiles, interstate transfers and the illicit trade, technical aspects of weapons tracing, marking, collection and destruction, and on legal or normative regimes designed to stop the flow of weapons. But missing from all of this is the human dimension—a consideration of how people are affected daily by the presence of these weapons—particularly in regions of armed conflict. It is essential that we recall the human devastation directly attributable to small arms on an annual basis: more than 200,000 deaths from homicide and suicide in the industrialized world, and at least 300,000 killed during armed conflicts occurring in developing countries. Millions more suffer from non-fatal injuries and crippling disabilities, while the anguish of further untold numbers cannot even be documented. This chapter considers the plight of the hundreds of thousands of people who are fatally and non-fatally wounded by small arms. It recalls the millions deprived of their homes and assets at gunpoint—whose very livelihoods are threatened by the presence of small arms. It forces the humanitarian advocate and policy-maker to reflect upon the damaged wreaked by a single bullet. It challenges all of us to consider, even before the bullet tears through flesh and splinters bone, how to reduce the humanitarian impacts of small arms. The chapter also highlights those instances where the humanitarian community has mounted a forceful response to the issue of small arms availability and use. Critical entry-points considered in the chapter include supply-side advocacy and the strengthening of export criteria to ensure the adoption of human rights and humanitarian norms, the application and enforcement of international humanitarian law in war zones, and operational reform among humanitarian agencies themselves. Key findings of this chapter indicate that: • The humanitarian impacts of small arms—fatal and non-fatal injury, forced displacement, and declining access to basic needs—are severe, especially in regions affected by armed conflict. • The impacts are difficult to quantify because of poor or non-existent data collection facilities and insufficient international attention and concern. • Many humanitarian agencies are reconsidering previously sacrosanct principles of neutrality and impartiality as small arms proliferation endangers their activities and personnel. • Responding to the humanitarian impact of small arms is a growing …