Trouble in Paradise: Small Arms in the Pacific (original) (raw)

2004, In: Small Arms Survey 2004: Rights at Risk

Recent events in the Pacific offer clear lessons, both in success and failure. Innovative links between disarmament and national aspirations for autonomy, clear-cut contrasts between weapon collection methods deployed in adjacent island communities, the ‘good neighbour’ traditions of the region, and relative transparency of information all combine to provide a small laboratory of ideas and examples. Pacific nations are no strangers to small arms. During the Second World War, island states in the region were home to thousands of armed troops, and suffered many bloody conflicts. More recently, small arms have reappeared as vectors of human rights abuse, death, and injury in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and even Australia. Unlike its neighbours in South-east and South Asia, the region is not afflicted with large-scale trafficking. Yet the Pacific experience demonstrates how deeply even a small number of small arms can damage small communities. Armed conflict and violent crime have had profound social and economic effects in the region, not least on the prospects of young Pacific Islanders. The line between the legal and illegal small arms trade is as blurred in the Pacific region as it is anywhere. The great majority of firearms used in violence were legally imported, then diverted to crime from civilian, military, and police holdings.