Small arms and light weapons: Challenges in Sri Lanka and options for the future

Summary In South Asia, large numbers of civilians die from small arms violence. Sri Lanka is heavily affected by the proliferation of illicit small arms that impacts on community safety and security, undermines development and is an obstacle to peace in the country.

The proliferation of small arms in Sri Lanka is reaching crisis proportions. The flow of arms into Sri Lanka is closely linked to the long-running conflict between the Sri Lankan state and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). However, the use of small arms is not simply confined to the conflict. There is a thriving market for illicit small arms in relation to armed crime characterised by a violent political culture. Politicians and their bodyguards are also armed by the state as a means of providing them with protection during their time in office; however, these arms are not recovered when the politician loses his or her seat.

The knowledge of the flow, use and impact of small arms in Sri Lanka is limited. In order to understand the experience of how small arms have affected local communities in different areas of the country, the South Asia Small Arms Network (SASA Net) Sri Lanka, supported by Saferworld, organised a civil society consultation process in 23 districts between November 2004 and March 2005. Civil society organisations have played a leading role in efforts to address the problems of small arms in Sri Lanka. The civil society consultation was designed to assess public perceptions of illicit small arms and to understand the different ways in which small arms impact on public and community perceptions of security in Sri Lanka. Conducted in the form of focus groups, the process involved over 600 community representatives who came together in a consultation involving 23 district meetings and 9 provincial meetings. This culminated in a National Forum where the findings were shared with government representatives, members of the National Commission Against the Proliferation of Illicit Small Arms (NCAPISA) and civil society and helped contribute to the development of a national strategy to address small arms problems in Sri Lanka.

Structure of the paper

Section 1 of this paper assesses the perceptions of communities regarding the proliferation of small arms and community security, focusing on issues of human security that are raised by citizens themselves such as electoral violence and armed crime. Section 2 explores further the human cost of the rise in small arms with a number of personal testimonies and includes a case study of a pioneer police-community initiative in Colombo. Section 3 looks at the impact of small arms in Sri Lanka from the Provincial Level. Section 4 outlines the steps forward to tackle the small arms problems including the process that has been undertaken to establish the National Commission. Section 5 outlines a series of recommendations to the National Commission that emerged from the civil society consultation.

Summary of key recommendations

The National Forum, held at the end of the consultation process, came up with a range of recommendations that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), the National Commission and civil society should take forward. These included:

Embarking on a legislative review and reform including:
- Increasing penalties for offences resulting from arms proliferation and the illegal use of weapons
- Introducing tougher laws to curb underworld criminal operations and political patronage

Developing small arms policy and practice by:
- Introducing effective stockpile management and record keeping systems
- Introducing stricter controls on the use of weapons by the police and military officials
- Establishing regular monitoring of the use of weapons in possession of politicians and their security personnel
- Strengthening controls on trafficking of small arms at national and international levels
- Reclaiming weapons issued to politicians and disallowing the use of armed private security guards for politicians
- Putting in place mechanisms to protect the identities of informants who provide information in relation to illegal proliferation of small arms

Conducting more research including:
- A study on small arms issues and the humanitarian impact
- Providing information to divisional secretariats on issuing of weapons to civilians, including politicians
- Maintain a registry of firearm licences issued

Creating an independent body and that the National Commission:
- Is created formally through an Act of Parliament
- Functions as the main authority to monitor and control arms proliferation
- Acts as an advisory body to the government on small arms policy and practice

The GoSL and a range of civil society groups have shown an interest in taking progressive steps to combat the challenge of illicit small arms. The community consultations that took place in 2004 and 2005 have been a key part of this, culminating in the National Forum and establishment of the Civil Society Action Committee. At the international level, the GoSL has played an important role in discussions to develop the PoA further as a part of the 2003 and 2005 UN Biennial Meeting of States. In July 2006 the UN meets again to review the PoA and identify the way forwards. Sri Lanka has been appointed to the Chair of the UN Review Conference and is currently co-ordinating the preparation of positions in the run up to this conference. Sri Lanka has made important progress to tackle small arms at the national and international level. The civil society consultations have been a key part of this process.