South Pacific moves to control hand guns

South Pacific Forum nations met in Japan last year

In this story: Contraband industry Small weapons violence Existing frameworks Social well-being RELATED SITES

By Staff and wire reports

BRISBANE, Australia -- South Pacific nations have agreed to draft new laws to control the use, possession and trafficking of hand guns.

The push for new laws was agreed by 14 nations at the South Pacific Forum at which police and customs officials addressed the growing problem of trans-national crime and illegal gun trading in the Pacific.

"What we are questioning is the fact that in recent years there are so many internal wars and regional wars where mostly small arms are used and not major tanks or fighter planes," U.N. negotiator Mitsuro Donowaki said at the meeting.

"If you look at the size of our communities, if you get 10 illegal weapons in, that can have a major impact," an official of the South Pacific Forum said.

Contraband industry

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Arms smuggling is just one tentacle of the contraband industry, and often indicative of drug and people smuggling.

The forum official said the South Pacific was taking a regional approach because arms, drugs and people smugglers could easily exploit a route through a country with weaker laws than its neighbors.

"When pressure goes on in other parts of the world, then that increases the flavor of the Pacific, in a number of areas -- drugs, sex tourism, guns," the official said.

"When police clamp down on certain parts of the world, these traffickers will move their routes and it's nothing for them to bring drugs for example from South America and go the long way around, through the South Pacific to get it to the U.S.."

Small weapons violence

The new laws, which must be ratified by local legislatures, would require a wide range of weapons to be licensed and registered including semi-automatic guns, hand guns and crude home-made arms popular in countries such as Solomons Islands.

The Solomons has been troubled by a bloody land dispute between rival ethnic groups from the islands of Guadalcanal and Malaita. A truce was reached last October but skirmishes continue.

Other South Pacific islands have also suffered their share of violence. Fiji was the scene of a racially inspired coup last year.

People in the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby say crime there is out of control.

Existing frameworks

Australian lawyer Jean Baker, who is the legislative drafter, said the new laws were being designed to slot into existing legal and political frameworks of existing governments.

She said while traditional weapons such as spears would be allowed, the laws would require police and defense forces to keep an accurate register of other weapons.

All registered weapons would then be locked into secure armories, with police required to sign any guns in and out of the armory. Only registered arms dealers would be allowed to trade in firearms.

"A lot of these countries do have some weapons laws but they are very old-fashioned and vague," Baker told Reuters.

Social well-being

The South Pacific Forum member states are Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

It is set up to enhance the economic and social well-being of the people of the South Pacific by fostering cooperation between governments and between international agencies.

Reuters contributed to this report.

South Pacific Forum
Government of Fiji
Solomon Islands
Papua New Guinea Government

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