POLICY FRAMEWORK AND GUIDELINES
ON SMALL ARMS AND
LIGHT WEAPONS

A CALL TO ACTION

Against the background of the work already undertaken on small arms and light weapons by the WCC International Affairs, Peace & Human Security staff and the CCIA Peacebuilding and Disarmament Reference Group, the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches, at its forty-fourth meeting in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, 14-18 May 2001:

Renews the appeal to the churches of the Fifth WCC Assembly (Nairobi 1975) "to emphasize their readiness to live without the protection of armaments;" urges Christians to do those things that make for peace with justice, and to foster the development of social and political institutions that provide security and physical and spiritual well-being for all without resort to weapons;

Renews its commitment to sustained participation in the emerging global effort to address the excessive and unregulated accumulations and proliferation of small arms that foment conflicts around the world, make them extraordinarily destructive, and render them more resistant to peaceful resolution;

Welcomes the convening of the UN Conference on small arms in 2001 and urges the churches to commit it and the broader effort of small arms disarmament effort to God in prayer;

Emphasizes the urgent need for resolute international action through the 2001 conference and beyond to encourage the international community to put in place a sustained program of action to address the small arms crisis;

Welcomes the formation and work of the International NGO Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), of which the WCC is a founding member;

Affirms the importance of church action and encourages the Ecumenical Network on Small Arms (ENSA) in its continuing work in collaboration with other members of IANSA;Calls upon states to use the occasion of the 2001 UN Conference to agree and commit to the following measures, and to put in place policies and resources to ensure their effective follow-up and implementation:

to exercise restraint in the accumulation and transfer of small arms and light weapons, and to pursue a global 'code of conduct' to control arms transfers in the context of and consistent with the obligations of states, including the obligation not to acquire arms for purposes other than or beyond levels needed for self-defence, to ensure the least possible diversion of resources to armaments, and to the obligation to respect and protect the welfare and rights of its citizens;

to implement strict domestic controls on the manufacture, possession and use of small arms, including consideration of the feasibility of adopting a legally binding instrument for a universal ban on civilian possession and use of military assault rifles;

to address social, political and economic conditions that tend to generate demand for small arms and light weapons (including a focus on human safety and protection, peaceful resolution of conflict, promoting cultures of peace, an urgent attention to reform of the security sector);

to cooperate, notably within and between regions, in support of more effective and consistent compliance with controls and regulations, including the pursuit of universal legally binding instruments to regulate brokering, and to adopt universal standards for marking, tracing, and record keeping of small arms and light weapons;

to adopt international standards for stockpile management, for post-conflict disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of ex-combatants, for weapons collection, and for the destruction of surplus and collected weapons;

to promote the conversion of weapons manufacturing capacity into socially constructive production;

to practice maximum transparency in transactions and policies and regulations related to small arms and light weapons;

to provide increased international support and resources for programs and initiatives to promote social justice and advance human security as conditions essential to development, and to promote social, economic and political conditions conducive to long-term peace, stability and development;

to provide financial, technical, and political support for the effective implementation of the above measures and policies;

to put in place effective follow-up and accountability processes.

Urges the churches, in the context of the Decade to Overcome Violence, to join with other faiths and civil society partners in their own countries to obtain their governments' agreement to these goals;

Commits itself to continue to give special attention to ameliorating the social, political and economic conditions that tend to generate demand to violence reduction efforts;

Commits itself to continuing active consultation with member churches and regional and national councils of churches to promote education and awareness raising, to develop and refine ecumenical policy on the issue, to contribute to the development of national, regional international plans of action to address armed violence and the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, and assist the churches in developing their own effective programs and actions to control and mitigate the effects of small arms and light weapons;

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Adopted at the 44th meeting
of the CCIA/WCC

18 May 2001
Crans Montana, Switzerland