English - Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal ...

Proliferation of small armsassault rifles; light machine-guns. Often lights weapons 2 and ammunitionand explosives 3 are also included in the debate of small arms.2. Proliferation of small arms and associated challengesProliferation of small arms is a common phenomenon in post-conflictcountries. The Iraq experience shows that after the downfall of SaddamHussein in 2003, military force lost 7-8 millions (almost all) firearms thatwere used by criminals in promoting crimes: abduction, murder andviolence (GIIS 2007). It is very hard to find factual data on how manyillegal small arms are floating in Nepal. However, considering the factthat more than nine dozen domestic arms manufacturing units operatedin Indo-Nepal border during the time of armed conflict and with morethan 1800 km open border between India and Nepal, as well as thatonly few numbers of arms were collected from UCPN (Maoist), one caneasily assume that the number can be substantially big. In addition, armsprovided by security forces to people to fight with rebels, mushroomingof arms groups in Nepal and multiplied numbers of crimes provide basisto project numbers of small arms floating in Nepal that goes to more thanfifty five thousand in number in the estimation of this author.2.1 Proliferation of small armsProliferation of small arms increased after the start of the armed conflictin Nepal. Widespread use of SALW by warring parties and distribution ofarms to civilian militias and Village Defence Committees by security forcesin Nepal during the time of the armed conflict had encouraged armstraders and smugglers.Illegal proliferation of small arms has created massive insecurity inNepalese society even after the signing of the CPA. Circulation of illegalarms was started by the UCPN (Maoist) on one hand and security forcesby providing arms to Village Defence Committees on the other. In thiscontext, Amnesty International (AI) wrote a letter to the then Prime2They include heavy machine-guns, hand held, under-barrel and mounted grenade launchers, portableanti-aircraft guns, portable anti-tank guns and recoilless rifles, portable launchers of anti-tank missileand rocket systems, portable launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems and mortars of calibres of lessthan 100 mm UN, 1997).3They include cartridges (rounds) for small arms, shells and missiles for light weapons, anti-personneland tank grenades, landmines, mobile containers with middles or shells for single-action anti-aircraftand anti-tank systems and explosives. The Panel of Governmental Experts (A/52/298).242