Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons

The Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) is the only global organization for parliamentarians with the specific objective of preventing armed violence and small arms proliferation. It works as a membership based organization, which means that the activities of the Forum are directed and owned by its members, i.e. parliamentarians.

The work originates from the aftermath of the hurricane Mitch in Central America in the 90ies. At that time, it became clear to many actors in the international community that the proliferation of small arms was a major obstacle to re-building the societies. A reality that had been clear to parliamentarians in these countries for many years.

Spanish and Swedish members of parliaments took the first initiative to form a net-work to offer support to their colleagues in Central America, how to deal with the problem. This concrete act of solidarity was strongly appreciated, and based on that experience the need to have a more permanent network of parliamentarians working together was identified.

The mission of the organization is to support parliamentarians in their small arms related work, contributing to the advancement of the small arms agenda, providing a space for parliamentarians to meet and join forces with other stakeholders and actors, such as civil society organizations. The Forum unites approximately 200 parliamentarians in 60 countries. The strongest regional representation is in Latin America, Africa and Europe.

The Forum’s aim has always rested on two pillars: policy-shaping and capacity-building. The former attends to the function of common political awareness raising and advocacy between and behalf of the members, whereas the latter on enhancing knowledge and putting in place resources for the members. The aims of policy-shaping and capacity-building are mutually reinforcing and leaving one unattended would jeopardise the parliamentary identity of the Forum and its added value.

Why Small Arms matter
In many parts of the world, particularly in developing and transitional societies, armed violence has become a problem of profound impact. Since the UN Charter was signed on the 24th of October 1945, nearly 30 million people have been killed in armed conflicts. 87 percent of these – or about 26 million – have been killed by fire arms.

According to the Small Arms Survey there are over 600 millions small arms and light weapons (SALW) in circulation today. Around 35 percent are found in the military forces, 3 percent in the police forces and 0.2 percent in different rebel groups. The lion’s share, or 60 percent, is owned privately. This is the most important explanation for why so many people –740 000 in total –are killed every year by small arms. It has been estimated that around 300,000 of these deaths are related to armed conflict and combat and this figure has actually declined in recent years. However, deaths caused by armed violence have not.

The role of Parliamentarians
On all levels the proliferation of small arms constitutes a threat to human development, good governance and democratic consolidation. Fewer weapons mean higher levels of human security and lower probability that conflicts escalate and become violent. In this sense, measures to stop the spread and accumulation of small arms are effective prevention of violent conflicts.

The amplitude of the problem has lead to strong, cross-party political interest in most countries to reach working solutions. The complexity of the problem makes small arms issues particularly well suited for international parliamentary cooperation. While problems related to weapons of mass destruction, where arms are under national control, must primarily be dealt with through multilateral negotiations and treaties, the limitation of firearms and light weapons must be tackled on many levels simultaneously – multilateral agreements, national and local regulations, advocacy and civil society engagement and awareness raising.  

Many regions have serious problems related to insecurity and firearms and many parliamentarians have fully recognized this and are willing to act against this negative development. However, they lack the adequate tools and support mechanisms to do so. Parliamentarians are especially suited to tackling these complex issues due to their fundamental roles:

(1) to propose, oversee, and reform national legislation;
(2) to exercise control over their governments, including adoption of national budgets;
(3) with an electoral mandate, generate social and political awareness and public support for the normative positions reflected in the legislation, and
(4) responsibility for the ratification of international agreements. In addition to this parliamentarians have a special responsibility for the creation of stability in post-conflict societies.

The Forum Secretariat is specialized in combining these four main tasks outlined above in relation to the work of SALW and is thus providing expert advice and support to targeted parliamentarians.  

New ways of cooperation
Since proliferation of small arms and light weapons is a major threat to development, democracy and security in many parts of the world, it is a serious concern for parliamentarians world-wide.

We believe that the method of bringing parliamentarians from different countries together to share perspectives and learning from each other is crucial when dealing with issues of international peace and security. Together with civil society and human rights organizations, parliaments have a key role in shaping and influencing political processes and policies. Cooperation at both a regional and international level has thus proven to be vital when it comes to engaging parliamentarians in small arms work and to advance the disarmament agenda.

The Parliamentary Forum on SALW has taken notice of the excellent international work of the EastWest Institute on confronting critical challenges that endanger peace. More specifically, the Forum has become aware of the establishment of the Parliamentary Network for Conflict Prevention and given our common interest to strengthen the role of parliamentarians in conflict prevention over the world on global issues it is a true pleasure to enter into a deeper dialogue.

The Forum has strong networks of Parliamentarians in Central- and South America as well as in East, West and Southern Africa. We are next looking at being of stronger support to parliamentarians in the Middle East.

I sincerely believe our networks could benefit from each other.

Peter Weiderud
Secretary General