'45% of all violent deaths globally, are committed by small arms'- Press Conference | United Nations

Hybrid briefing by Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, along with Ambassador Maritza Chan-Valverde, President-designate of RevCon4 and Ivor Fung, Chief of the Conventional Arms Branch in the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). They will brief reporters on the Fourth Review Conference on the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons.

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High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, said, “Forty-five percent of all violent deaths globally, actually all committed by small arms and in conflict affected places, this figure is actually doubled in terms of the impact of those weapon systems. This means actually every two minutes someone is killed by small arms.”

The High Representative for Disarmament Affairs today (19 Jun) spoke to reporters on the Fourth Conference to Review Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its aspects.

Nakamitsu said, “Gender-based violence, both in public in conflict situations, in crime situation, but also domestic violence at home, terrorism, violent crimes all these things actually are attributed to the use of small arms and light weapons.”

She added that “this also impacts how sustainable development goals might be or might not be realized.”

On challenges, the High Representative said,” One of some of the new challenges that we hope Member States will tackle, for example, developments in technology that is really creating both challenges and of course, some opportunities.”

She explained, “For example, the 3D printed weapons I mean, those presents new challenges, and they will have to be some sort of a new mechanism to tackle those new and emerging challenges.”

“how to strengthen and create international cooperation and assistance mechanism is another key because we want those issues to be tackled at the country level at the field level, more concretely,” Nakamitsu continued.

She said, “for that, I think we need to have a clear mechanism to support those countries that have prioritize in terms of tackling those challenges.”

Ambassador Maritza Chan-Valverde of Costa Rico who is the President-designate of the conference told reporters that lack of resources for some States is a challenge in the implementation of the Programme of Action on Small Arms and its International Tracing Instrument.

She said, “There is a relatively small pool of donors and a high demand for assistance, including capacity building, installed back management, border controls, marking, record keeping and law enforcement trading, and the financial material and technology divide between developed and developing countries is growing.”

The conference Review Conferences have the mandate to review progress made in the implementation of the Programme of Action (PoA) to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects and its International Tracing Instrument (ITI). It takes place from 18 - 28 June 2024 in New York.