MISSING PIECES - Inter-Parliamentary Union

MISSING PIECES
In addition, ammunition stockpiles, often stored alongside explosives,
have proven to have fatal consequences for civilians if left poorly managed.
In January 2002, a military ammunition storage facility caught fire in
Lagos, Nigeria, setting off explosions that resulted in the death of over 1,000
people. 7 In April 2003, a flare gun was reportedly used to intentionally ignite
an ammunitions dump in Baghdad. The resulting explosion killed up to
40 people. 8 In May 2005, a hidden ammunitions and weapons storage
facility in Bashgah, Afghanistan, exploded, killing 28 and injuring more
than 70. 9
4. Integrated approaches
Weapons collection is only one aspect of the transitional process aimed
at establishing security after armed conflict. Other issues to be addressed
include restructuring the armed forces, security sector reform, democratisation
and transitional justice, repatriation of refugees and the internally
displaced, economic recovery, and longer-term socio-economic development.
All these elements are to some degree mutually dependent and vary
in form across contexts. Unless some disarmament and weapons control
measures are in place, the environment will often remain too insecure to
pursue these other aims or they are likely to be undermined. Conversely,
weapons collection efforts will often not be successful unless alternative
security guarantees are also offered. Weapons are often held in response
to perceptions of insecurity, and therefore weapons collection exercises will
have better chances of success if linked to reforms of the security sector,
for example to promote models of community policing.
“. . . projects and programmes that try to persuade people to hand in
their weapons only work if people feel safe and secure, and have real
alternatives to violence. That is why integrating small arms control
into national development planning frameworks will help to ensure
that decisions are made locally, reflect national and local priorities
and help donors unlock more resources“
—UK statement at the UN Review Conference, 27 June 2006
Lessons learned in Sierra Leone demonstrated that disarmament should
be conceptualised as ‘an integral and extended process of national recovery
through security-building rather than as a technical process of post-conflict
weapons collection and demobilisation’ 10 . The design and implementation
of small arms control efforts should also more broadly involve govern-
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