JSAC-PR-05

JSAC activities on the 9th of July, the United Nations “Small Arms Destruction Day”
Peace Drawing Contest at DonOuv School in Angkor Chum District, Siem Reap Province
Public Awareness Campaign in Phnom Penh

On the 9th of July 2004, the United Nations “Small Arms Destruction Day,” JSAC held the Peace Drawing Contest at Don Ouv School in Angkor Chum District, Siem Reap Province.  JSAC selected particularly this date for the UN “Small Arms Destruction Day.”  The half day session was held to improve knowledge of children in danger of illicit small arms possession and misuse in society though watching video stories, reading news articles, listening victim’s real stories and discussing the issue among each other.  60 students at the school were benefited as well as teachers, their parents and people in the community.  This session also sought to the result in changing general adult’s (weapon holders’) perceptions of values and behaviors regarding illicit small arms possession and misuse through their own children’s voices and manners.  Children were encouraged to talk about the issue at home with parents and adults in their community.  Children’s drawings were collected by JSAC facilitators and would be utilized for JSAC’s public awareness materials in future.

JSAC also organized public awareness campaign in the city of Phnom Penh on the UN “Small Arms Destruction Day.”  JSAC mobilized its staff to place hundreds of posters in the city center and also distributed two different designs of JSAC’s public awareness stickers.  These successfully attracted young people in Phnom Penh where increasing in number of gun related crimes by young population became current serious problem.  JSAC also designed anti-gun shopping plastic bags with JSAC logo and message “Say ‘no’ to weapons” and provided to shops in four major markets in Phnom Penh.  The shops used the plastic bags to the customers. These bags successfully delivered JSAC’s message to local population.

Note for Editors:
Japan Assistance Team for Small Arms Management in Cambodia (JSAC)

JSAC has become a leading actor in the field of combating the threat of uncontrolled and excess of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in Cambodia since 2003 and plays a leading role in assisting the Royal Government as well as civil society groups to curtail illicit weapons, addressing the issue of SALW illegal possession and misuse among local population.  JSAC has been providing intensive awareness workshops in three provinces in the northwest of Cambodia where local population are still considered to be heavily armed from long history of war.  Over 82,000 villagers, police officers, military personnel and also ex-combats attended and benefited through our workshops to date. By end of June 2004, more than 8,000 weapons were collected from the provinces through JSAC’s initiatives.

The United Nations “Small Arms Destruction Day”
The United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects was held from 9 to 20 July 2001, was the first major international meeting on the issue.  During the conference, it was decided that the first day of the Conference was to be called "Small Arms Destruction Day" and where possible, it was encouraged to have public events on the destruction of SALW on that day, and to ensure the widest possible dissemination of information about the events.