Small Arms and Light Weapons

In 1994, the Committee on International Security Studies (CISS) hosted the first major international workshop on the dangers posed by the increased proliferation of small arms and light weapons to areas of conflict around the world. Academic analysts, government officials, representatives from human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other experts stressed the extensive gaps in knowledge and urgent need for more information, analysis, discussion, and ideas for monitoring and controlling trade in these weapons. Three years later, CISS joined with the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict to host a second workshop examining the many policy initiatives being untaken by national governments, regional and international organizations, and NGOs to control the deadly traffic in small arms and light weapons. The project’s directors organized a 1995 Pugwash workshop on the topic; gave presentations at international policy workshops hosted by the governments of Canada, Belgium, and Switzerland; served on the board of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA); and consulted to the World Bank.