Guy Lamb

Firing Blanks: The Growing Irrelevance of the UN Small Arms Process

Weapons confiscated from the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). They were being stored at MEU Service Support Group (MSSG)-26 Compound at Camp Montieth. The Marines and sailors of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) are helping to enforce the implementation of the military technical agreement and to provide peace and stability to Kosovo during Operation JOINT GUARDIAN.
SGT Craig J. Shell, U.S. Marine Corps/Wikimedia

This article was originally published by IPI Global Observatory on 21 August, 2014.

While ferocious armed conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Libya, and Syria dominate news headlines, the foremost United Nations (UN) process to combat the illicit trade in small arms appears to have lost its way. In 2001, UN member states hammered out a compromise program of action to be the foremost global map to tackle illicit small arms, which are widely used to injure and kill people both in times of war and peace.

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