The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) was incorporated on 30 May 2002 under the laws of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and No ...
. The IANSA London office was closed in 2015, but it has an active UN liaison office in New York. IANSA has had registration as an NGO in Ghana since 2014 to reflect the organizations commitments to bringing voices from the global south to the United Nations small arms disarmament process.
IANSA is opposed to the illicit proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons. IANSA supports efforts to increase global peace, stability, and sustainability by reducing demand for such weapons, improving firearms regulation, and strengthening controls on arms transfers.
In accordance to IANSA's commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5, IANSA has sought to significantly increase the role of women in the global conversation on small arms and light weapons (SALW) related violence. Through initiatives such as the "16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence," IANSA has worked to encourage meaningful participation of women as stakeholders in the fight against gun violence, as opposed to passive victims.
IANSA's Women's Network is the only international network focused on the connections between gender, women's rights, small arms and armed violence.
United Nations Activities
IANSA was involved in lobbying the 2001 United Nations
Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms The small arms trade (also called small arms proliferation and the small arms market) is the markets of both authorized and illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW), as well as their parts, accessories, and ammunition.
Definition
The arms tra ...
which produced an agreed Programme of Action. A UN Review Conference ended in July 200
without further agreement. A subsequent meeting (The Biennial Meeting of States 3 "BMS3") in 2008 agreed a substantive outcome document by a majority vote
IANSA, part of the
Control Arms Campaign The Control Arms Coalition is a campaign jointly run by a coalition of over 100 organisations including Amnesty International, IANSA, Oxfam International and Saferworld.
The campaign has been active since 2003 in calling for an international Ar ...
, promotes an international treaty regulating the conventional arms trade called the Arms Trade Treaty. A resolution to begin work on this Arms Trade Treaty was approved by the UN General Assembly in 2006
and the completed treaty was put into force on 24 December 2014.
Since IANSA's founding, there have been three Review Conferences and six Biennial Meetings of States to review the Programme of Action, present the advancements that states have made in the field of SALW, and facilitate debate around different regulatory commitments.
Gun Control Activities
IANSA is described as an umbrella network that represent over 800 civil society organizations in 120 countries concerned about
gun violence
Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a firearm. Gun-related violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide (except when and where ruled justifiable), assault with a deadly weapon, and ...
.
IANSA advocates that private citizens undergo a
licensing process before they possess firearms, and that legally possessed firearms be stored unloaded and away from
ammunition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other we ...
.
Funding
IANSA is currently funded through a UN Trust Facility Supporting Cooperation on Arms Regulation (UNSCAR) grant.
See also
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Small arms proliferation The small arms trade (also called small arms proliferation and the small arms market) is the markets of both authorized and illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW), as well as their parts, accessories, and ammunition.
Definition
The arms t ...
References
External links
International Action Network on Small ArmsThe Advocacy Project
partners wit
The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA)
Follow The Advocacy Project's 200
Peace FellowAaron Fuchs
in the field.
{{Authority control
Gun control advocacy groups
Arms control
Gun violence