Book Description

The Illicit Small Arms in the Pacific Research Project conducted a strategic assessment, rather than a detailed stocktake, of the illicit small arms situation in the Western Pacific Island region. It focused on Fiji, PNG (excluding Bougainville) and Solomon Islands. As anticipated, most illicit small arms in the region come from within the countries studied and are largely recirculated within them. However, pockets exist where weapons transgress borders, although this is not particularly organised or substantial. There are also trends with new weapons entering the region, but these are mostly imported by, or with the knowledge and/or approval of, national governments. This makes illicit small arms in Western Pacific Island countries less of a transnational problem and more of a national government problem. Several region-wide trends are linked, potentially to small arms proliferation. These were outside the scope of this project, but are worthy of attention and so are discussed briefly in this project report.