MISSING PIECES - Inter-Parliamentary Union

MISSING PIECES
grammes often spur discussion about the role of small arms in society
and may lead to a questioning of the issues. Parliamentarians can be active
in promoting such debate and establishing public inquiries to gauge input
into new laws and policies.
2. The provision of appropriate incentives
The earliest efforts at weapons collection were often ‘buy-back programmes’
offering cash in return for guns. While these may make sense in cultural
settings where the individual dominates the collective, there is ample
evidence demonstrating how cash rewards can have undesirable consequences.
They have encouraged holders and owners to take advantage of
such programmes to make a profit on their guns, only to replace them by
cheaper or better guns available on the illegal market, thereby fuelling the
black market. In certain situations, cash rewards can be seen as unduly
rewarding violent behaviour, as only weapons holders will be able to access
them. Testimonies from Afghanistan also illustrate how ex-fighters have
been forced into sharing their cash rewards with former commanders. 3
Where several disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR)
processes occur in parallel in the same region, and the cash rewards vary,
ex-combatants are encouraged to cross the border to find ‘the best deal’.
This dilemma is clearly illustrated in the cases of Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire,
two neighbouring countries where ex-combatants who turned in a weapon
were offered USD 300 and USD 900 respectively. Even when cash is used
as a reinsertion payment for ex-combatants and not intended as a direct
payment for their guns, this distinction may not always be apparent to the
ex-combatants. The international community’s learning curve seems to be
particularly flat on this point.
It is, therefore, a positive development that processes treating disarmament
and reintegration separately are being replaced by programmes linking
the social and economic reintegration of ex-combatants directly to
disarmament by offering a comprehensive assistance package to those who
turn in guns. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the International
Organisation of Migration (IOM) pioneered this approach in Congo-
Brazzaville in 2000. 4 This is also the model used by the on-going Afghan
New Beginnings Programme (ANPB), which aims to demobilise over
100,000 ex-combatants and to reintegrate mujahedin into civilian life by
offering them jobs and educational opportunities. A particularly innovative
example is a scheme offering individuals training and jobs in de-mining
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