Governments failing to meet targets on small arms
July 08, 2003 Edition -1
About 150 South Africans are expected to be killed by guns during the five days UN member states meet to discuss their progress in curbing the proliferation of small arms.
The meeting is being held in New York from July 7 to 11.
Joseph Dube, of Gun Free South Africa (GFSA), said yesterday that according to a new report, most governments had not met their obligations agreed to at the United Nations two years ago to stop gun proliferation.
The report, compiled by the International Action Network on Small Arms, evaluates progress in 156 countries and has been compiled by more than 100 local researchers and experts, including GFSA.
It says small arms cause 500 000 deaths a year - taking a life every minute. In South Africa, gun violence is the leading external cause of death, with more than 11 000 gun deaths each year.
The report found that, despite their obligations under the UN programme of action on small arms:
Yet the report also states that significant progress has been made in some countries and that the involvement of civil society has been essential to this progress.
The most successful initiatives in the past two years have been partnerships between governments and non-governmental organisations, while progress has often been slowest in countries where civil society is excluded.
The report identifies priorities for governments to combat gun trafficking, which include:
Dube said the police would again destroy illegal firearms on July 16 in Johannesburg, as they have done each month since January.
