: Small Arms Proliferation Jeopardises Global Development – New
Report

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> July 10, 2003
>
> Small Arms Proliferation Jeopardises Global Development – New Report
>
> Press Release
> Small Arms Survey
> Avenue Blanc 47
> Geneva, Switzerland
> Phone: 646-249-7752
> www.smallarmssurvey.org
>
> Contact:
> Emile LeBrun
> Phone: 646-249-7752
>
> Where Guns Dominate, Infrastructure is Damaged, Local Economies Collapse,
> and Investment Stops
>
> Small arms proliferation and misuse jeopardise human development in many
> of the world’s most underdeveloped nations, a new report finds. Beyond
> deaths and injuries, small arms availability and misuse can often lead to
> economic collapse, damaged or destroyed infrastructure, and the withdrawal
> of private investment, according to the 2003 edition of the Small Arms
> Survey.
>
> “Health, security, education, economic growth, and infrastructure all
> suffer where guns dominate,” said Keith Krause, Programme Director of the
> Small Arms Survey. “Even when the fighting stops, where the guns remain,
> the insecurity and fear continue.”
>
> The report documents a range of development-related impacts of small arms
> availability, including a rise in the incidence and lethality of
> criminality; the collapse or erosion of social services; a decline in
> economic activities; and threats to development interventions.
>
> Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development
> Programme writes in a foreword to the report, “[Small arms] have an
> insidious effect on development: by undermining the safety and security of
> communities, threatening livelihoods, and destroying social networks, they
> at best hold back and at worst contribute to the reversal of hard-won
> development gains.”
>
> Among other findings of the 2003 Small Arms Survey: Development
> Denied:Almost 50 per cent of the lowest-ranking countries listed on the
> UNDP 2002 Human Development Index (HDI) are severely affected by armed
> conflict.
> Political and armed violence is not clearly distinguished from large-scale
> criminal violence in many developing countries.
> Firearm violence poses a pervasive threat to many development projects,
> through risks to field staff and the extra costs of providing security for
> field staff and beneficiaries.
>
> More information: www.smallarmssurvey.org/Media or contact Emile LeBrun at
> (646) 249-7752 (mobile) or [email protected]
>
> The Small Arms Survey 2003: Development Denied, the third annual global
> analysis of small arms issues (published by Oxford University Press), was
> released today at the United Nations, during the Biennial Meeting of
> States on Small Arms (July 7-11).
>
> An independent research project funded by 12 governments, the Small Arms
> Survey is the principal international source of public information on all
> aspects of small arms, based at the Graduate Institute of International
> Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
> Date of Release: July 8, 2003