A Study On The Effectiveness Of International Mechanism For Controlling Illicit Trade In Light Weapons And Weapons

Small arms and light weapons, which are easy to use and acquire, have been themainly used weapons in present-day conflicts. The illicit trade of small arms and lightweapons destabilizes communities and regions, causes a spectrum of social-economicproblems as well as humanitarian disasters. The issue to combat and regulate the illicittrade of small arms and light weapons had been raised in the United Nations in1988for the first time. After16years of development, now international regimes focusedon combating and regulating the illicit trade of small arms and light weapons havebeen set up, though they were often criticized as being no effect.This article chooses the amount of national arms export reports which statessubmitted to UN as an index, conducts the correlation between the reports-submittingbehavior and countries· GDP performance, the export trade of small arms and lightweapons, and the UN Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation ofthe Programme of Action. The correlation analyses show that international regimesare able to arouse concern on this issue, make up the limited capacity that singlecountry can hardly regulate the illicit circulation of firearms. Moreover, the regimes tocombat and regulate the illicit trade of small arms and light weapons significantlychange countries· behavior patterns, the core concern of countries changed from theshort-term economic benefits into long-term global reputation and influence.Thus, as a conclusion, the international regimes to combat and regulate the illicittrade of small arms and light weapons are actually effective, by providing the tradeinformation, facilitate countries to coordinate and lay the foundation for deeper futurecooperation.