Awash in Armaments: Implications of the Trade in Light Weapons

With the end of the Cold War, growing international attention is being focused on ethnic and sectarian violence and on the weapons - mostly small arms, machine guns, light artillery, and other low-tech systems - being used to sustain these contests. Because these wars are being fueled by a massive deluge of arms and ammunition, any efforts to promote global peace and stability will require multilateral curbs on the global traffic in light weaponry. Even relatively small quantities of light weapons can produce great havoc and suffering when used to undermine a fragile state or to terrorize a defenseless population. Among the channels through which light weapons are traded are government-to-government sales and aid programs, commercial sales, covert deliveries by governments, and black-market arms traffic. Ultimately, a new international control regime will be needed to regulate the trade in light and medium weapons.