Small Arms and Society: SALW Control, DDR, and Peacebuilding: El Salvador

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Small Arms and Society SALW Control, DDR, and
Peace-building El Salvador
COST Meeting on Armed Violence Brussels, 17
March 2008

• Chris Stevenson, Small Arms Survey, Geneva

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In this presentation, I look at

• A brief overview of El Salvador today
• A summarized history of its peace process
• DDR components
• Arms control measures
• Society interventions to reduce armed violence

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Why look at El Salvador as a case?

• El Salvador ranked 103rd out of 177 countries in
  the Human Development Index
• Annual GDP per capita of 5,255 USD
• The estimated earned annual income 7,543 USD
  (males) and 3,043 USD (females)

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El Salvador Today

• A decade after the war in 2001 - 35 deaths per
  100,000 inhabitants.
• In 2005/06 - 55 deaths for every 100,000
  inhabitants annually.
• Guns account for 80 out of every 100 incidents.

National homicide rate (per 100,000), El
Salvador, 19992005
Source IML (2006)
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Small arms in El Salvador

• An export destination for arms manufacturers
  during civil war and since 1992.
• 2007 estimates - approximately half a million
  firearms in circulation
• 211,577 firearms registered nationally (2007)

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El Salvador violence

• Violence is now an urban phenomenon, concentrated
  in larger cities/suburbs and marginalized
  communities with high poverty rates.
• Problems of Maras (gangs) number of members vary
  between 10,500 to 50,000 in Central America in
  2006 - connections in the USA and region.

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Historical summary

• 1838- El Salvador becomes an independent
  republic, 1838
• Late 1800 - late 1900s- Country is run by the
  wealthy coffee elite Fourteen Families and
  military leaders
• 1980- Archbishop Romero assassinated, FMLN
  (Farabundo Martí Liberation Front) formally
  mobilized
• 1980-1992- Civil war
• 1987- Esquipulas Peace Agreement
• 1990-1992- Peace negotiations and accords

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El Salvador peace process

• The UN mediated two-year peace agreement
• Series of various meetings and agreements
• Final accords were signed in Chapultepec Mexico
  in January, 1992.
• Cease-fire was sustained

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DDR in El Salvador peace process

• DDR did not formally exist during the peace
  negotiations
• Parties negotiated demobilization of forces and
  their reintegration into civilian, political, and
  institutional life
• The FMLN negotiators rejected the term
  demobilized although widely used

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DDR emerged

• A voluntary cessation of armed conflict (CAC)
  process
• CAC encompassed four elements
• the cease fire
• the separation of forces
• the end of the military structure of the FMLN and
  reintegration of its members
• UN verification of the previous activities.

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El Salvador arms controls

• 1993- National arms law created to regulate
  civilian possession and re-enacted in 1999.
• 2002, significant reforms to the law increased
  criminalisation of violations, tighter
  restrictions on carrying of guns, development of
  a psychological test for application of licenses.
  
• National temporary prohibitions are mandated
  during holidays and in peak tourist areas.

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Arms controls

• A firearms purchaser must register and obtain a
  license before buying the weapon from a licensed
  dealer.
• Ammunition sold to those with a license for the
  weapon of the same calibre.
• A Value Added Tax on firearms sales to contribute
  to FOSALUD, a national health fund.
• Regular destruction of weapons - approximately
  6,669 SALW destroyed since 2001.

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Other relevant laws

• Decree 158, the Anti-Maras Act - adopted in
  October 2003
• Plans Mano Dura (Operation Hard Hand) - July
  2003- and Super Mano Dura -July 2004
• December 2006 Decree 176 weapon carrying
  prohibition
• Mano Amiga (Friendly Hand) and the Mano Extendida
  (Extended Hand) - youth violence prevention and
  gang rehabilitation plans

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Civil society mobilization

• 2001 - Society Without Violence (Sociedad sin
  Violencia) program established
• Supports efforts to confront and prevent armed
  violence through research, dialogue, capacity
  building, and advocacy
• Mobilizes civil society and generates reliable
  data
• International organizational investment followed
• Set the framework for the Arms Free
  Municipalities Project, etc.

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Civil society impacts

• 2005 Municipalities Free of Weapons (Municipios
  Libre de Armas) project - reduce violence by
  imposing local restrictions on carrying weapons.
• 64 arms-free spaces created
• increased police vigilance
• San Martín firearms crimes reduced by 29,
  homicide rate declined by 47
• Ilopango had 24 crime reduction, 47 homicide
  reduction.

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Some conclusions

• DDR - critical to peace negotiations.
• Weapons control and reduction largely ignored as
  goal and process.
• Post-war and long-term violence reduction
  strategies are imperative.
• Critical importance of civil society.

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Thank You

• Chris Stevenson
• Small Arms Survey
• 41 22 908 5790
• stevenc6_at_hei.unige.ch