Cheap, small arms becoming weapon of choice of many terror groups: UN counter-terrorism chief

United Nations: The UN counter-terrorism chief has said that cheap and easily accessible small arms are increasingly becoming the “weapon of choice” for many terror groups around the world posing a serious threat to international peace and security. “Insufficient international response in countering the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons, the challenges that Member States face to detect and seize them, as well as porous borders, allow terrorists and criminals to move illicit weapons from one country or region to another,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov said. “Small arms and light weapons are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice of many terrorist groups around the world as they are cheap and easy to access, transfer, hide and use,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_2240362” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] It is widely acknowledged that the connection between terrorism and organised crime, including illicit small arms and light weapons trafficking, is a serious threat to international peace and security. It is also an obstacle to sustainable development and a menace to the rule of law. To illustrate the challenges, Voronkov, who is also Executive Director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), revealed estimates indicating that the African continent alone has one hundred million uncontrolled small arms and light weapons concentrated in crises zones and security-challenged environments. “With an estimated population of 1.2 billion in Africa, this is an unfortunate and significant ratio of one to 12,” he said. Without a strong international response, terrorists and criminals would easily be able to move illicit weapons from one country or region to another. The UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy underlines the connection between terrorism and the illicit small arms trafficking, conventional ammunitions and explosives, and calls on Member States to strengthen coordination and cooperation to address this challenge. The UNOCT chief illustrated this through the example that “illicit weapons originating from Libya were finding their way into the Lake Chad Basin and the Sahel.” Since last year, the UNOCT and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) worked closely with the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (ODA) to develop a project enhancing national legislative, strategic and operational capacities to prevent, detect and counter the firearms trafficking and other illegal activities related to terrorism and organised crime in Central Asia. “The project is also another example of our ‘All-of-UN’ approach to support counter-terrorism efforts of Member States,” Voronkov said. In her video statement, UNODC Executive Director Ghada Fathi Waly affirmed her Office’s “unique approach” to addressing the complex interlinked challenges of terrorism, crime and corruption. “I am confident the project implementation will bring concrete results benefiting all Central Asian States. Our common goal is to make the region more secure & prosperous, free from illicit weapons & terrorism,” she said. Using a “holistic approach”, Waly maintained that the project tackles “the full range of obstacles.” She singled out adequate legal frameworks, strengthening law enforcement and criminal justice capacity, improving data and addressing cooperation gaps, saying that it is “essential to deal effectively with threats that no country can face alone.” The UNODC supports nations in implementing global counter-terrorism instruments, as well as the Firearms Protocol to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, through the UNODC Global Firearms Programme. “I will be eagerly following the project’s advancement and I hope that its outcomes and learnings can inform the international community’s efforts, feeding into the next reviews of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, this year and in 2022,” the UNODC chief said. Meanwhile, CTED Deputy Executive Director Weixiong Chen pointed out that the new initiative is “one of the important requirements of several relevant Security Council resolutions.” Citing five resolutions, he noted that “the Council has repeatedly stressed the importance to prevent terrorist access to weapons.” Chen noted that the most recent resolution, 2317, brought a comprehensive new set of topics and domains, saying that they have strengthened CTED’s mandate, particularly through its “assessments, analyses and identification of gaps.” The CTED chief underscored the importance of Member States’ will to implement Security Council resolutions on preventing illicit small arms and light weapons trafficking and concluded by sharing his hope “that OCT and UNODC will be able to fully utilize CTED’s expertise and recommendations in this field”. The launch also introduced the new project’s activities, including missions to assess regional situations, relevant legislation and response capacities to the threat posed by firearms trafficking, terrorism and related crimes.