Presentation on

“Peace Building and Comprehensive Small Arms Management Programme in Cambodia”

by Yasumitsu Kida, Project Manager,

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

at ASEAN Regional Workshop on Small Arms Control

May 22, 2007

It is a great honor for me to be here today and to give a presentation on our program and its lessons.  Japan Assistance Team for Small Arms Management in Cambodia (JSAC) is a project team to carry out “Peace Building and Comprehensive Small Arms Management Programme in Cambodia” funded by the Government of Japan, and has supported the Royal Government of Cambodia since April 2003.  Our program aims to address Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) issues in Cambodia through “the effective collection, stockpile management and destruction of SALW” as an effort to implement the UN Programme of Action on the ground.

The SALW Problem in Cambodia

Turning firstly to an overview of the SALW problem in Cambodia, SALW which were used during the long civil war still remain in the country.  The exact number of weapons is not known, but one study used to estimate the number to be between 300,000 to 500,000 before.  Although the situation is improving as a result of the efforts made by the Government of Cambodia and its supporting donors, the proliferation of SALW remains one of problems in Cambodia in terms of security and safety, and has been acknowledged as such by the Government of Cambodia.  JSAC has conducted its program in five Provinces of northwestern Cambodia, namely Otdar Meanchey Province, Banteay Meanchey Province, Siem Reap Province, Kompong Thom Province and Battambang Province, which were one of the last strongholds of Khmer Rouge and the hottest battlefields during the civil war era.

Demand Factors of SALW Possession

Why do people in post-conflict countries choose to keep their SALW?  This fundamental question on demand factors of SALW would be valuable for understanding our program and formulating effective strategies in addressing the problems.  I do not think that there is a particular and correct answer which can account for every situation in all post-conflict areas.  In the case of Cambodia, however, we have found three major reasons from our continuous field presence.  Firstly, people choose to keep weapons to try to protect their families and property from dangers and crimes by themselves due to the sense of insecurity.  They lack confidence in security forces, perceiving them as incapable and unwilling to provide security.  This leads to the need of enhancing the capacity of relevant authorities in providing and maintaining security.  Secondly, the prolonged conflict have left behind a “Culture of Violence.”  In such societies, people tend to solve problems with violent measures and are accustomed to using weapons.  Efforts to shift the society from a “Culture of Violence” to a “Culture of Peace” are necessary.  Lastly, in Cambodia, some people still believe that SALW have monetary value and expect them to be exchanged with something.

JSAC’s Project

JSAC’s program consists of five projects, designed as a comprehensive set to tackle SALW problems and build peace in Cambodia.  They are: Weapons Reduction and Development for Peace (WDP) Project, Weapons Destruction Project, Safe Storage and Registration Project, Public Awareness Project and National Commission Support Project.  Today, I would like to introduce these projects one by one.

The first project is the Weapons Reduction and Development for Peace (WDP) Project, in which JSAC encourages civilians to voluntarily surrender SALW through repeated educational workshops at various levels; from Provincial, District and Commune levels to the grassroots such as Village levels.  Experienced trainers from JSAC raise awareness of villagers on SALW issues including dangerousness and illegality of SALW, negative aspects of an unsecured community with weapons and positive aspects of a peaceful community without weapons repeatedly at grassroots level workshops.  Villagers not only obtain knowledge on SALW issues, but also understand ideas that SALW issues directly affect their security and are their own problems.  Weapons possessed by villagers are surrendered voluntarily after such understanding prevails within communities.

JSAC also supports local police capacity by providing basic training and equipment in order to improve public security and residents’ confidence in the relevant authorities.  JSAC holds a number of training sessions for local police officers.  The local police officers from police posts at grassroots level, who most often communicate with villagers, learn basic concepts such as human rights, democracy and rule of law, communication methods, and technical skills for their duties.  JSAC supports necessary equipment, such as radio communication tools and transportation equipment.  The reconstruction of fragile police posts for local police in target provinces are also carried out.  In addition, JSAC organizes workshops for confidence building as well as for education on SALW.  In the confidence building workshop, participants from various backgrounds and positions, such as civilians, local authorities, security forces and local NGO members, together discuss regarding their own security and SALW issues and strengthen social ties within community members.  They acknowledge that all actors of various backgrounds are members of the same community, and surrendering SALW benefits all of them including their families.  This understanding gradually builds confidence among all the actors.

Under this WDP Project, development sub-projects are offered in communities where people have surrendered all weapons.  The aim of the development assistance is not to offer incentives in exchange for weapons, but to raise the communities’ living standards, to assure the establishment of a peaceful society, and to avoid regression to a “Culture of Violence.”  Our approach is neither buyback nor exchange of weapons, but encourages people to voluntarily surrender SALW through a series of workshops to raise awareness and foster the “Culture of Peace.”  For instance, in March 2006, 2,482 cached weapons believed to be once owned by the Khmer Rouge were discovered in Samlot District, Battambang Province, thanks to a report by a participant of JSAC’s workshop at grassroots level.  Much information on hidden weapons has continuously been reported due to improved relations and the confidence built among the local population, authorities, police and JSAC.  JSAC and Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) have cooperated for dealing with the cached weapons underground.  Quick and reliable responses from JSAC and CMAC to the cached weapons enable civilians to enjoy peaceful society without weapons and to encourage them to give away more weapons.  Strong cooperation between a SALW team and a demining organization in Cambodia can show a good example of the importance of the synergy created among the two activities in the peace building process in post-conflict countries.

Regarding this weapons reduction project, at the end of our previous 1st Phase, all Governors of the target Districts announced the “Gun-Free Declaration,” which stated that local governments would be responsible for maintaining peaceful communities without weapons.  This demonstrated that the authorities had acknowledged the value of peace, and were willing to express their commitment in maintaining this peace in their communities.  More than 27,000 SALW have been surrendered through the WDP Project so far.  This project has contributed to overcoming all demand factors mentioned earlier; improving security to remove people’s perceived needs for self protection; building capacity of and confidence in police and authorities; facilitating the “Culture of Peace” through educational workshops and the surrender of weapons; and promoting a common perception that weapons do not hold any monetary value.

The second project is the Weapons Destruction Project.  This project aims to burn and destroy weapons collected from civilians through the WDP Project as well as surplus weapons in police possession, so that they can never be used again.  Destruction ceremonies, known as the “Flame of Peace,” are held by the Government of Cambodia, and JSAC supports them.  The purpose of the destruction ceremonies is not only to make weapons physically unusable, but also to give the population a positive and symbolic image that they are moving toward peace without weapons.  This project also contributes to improving public security by preventing the illicit flow of SALW.  The government of Cambodia and JSAC have organized 10 destruction ceremonies and destroyed 25,444 SALW so far.  I am honored to hold our 11th Destruction Ceremony, which is expected to destroy 2,428 weapons with the “Flame of Peace” on the day after tomorrow in Kompong Thom Province in the presence of all delegations attending this workshop.

The third project is the Safe Storage and Registration Project.  This project aims to introduce proper stockpiling systems for police weapons, and build capacity of and confidence in police forces.  JSAC supports the Ministry of Interior and Provincial Police in managing secure stockpiling and computerized registration systems for their weapons.  Firstly, JSAC has supported the Provincial Police to build safe storage warehouses to store the police weapons.  As you can see on this slide, the Provincial Police only had an extremely fragile storage warehouse before JSAC’s support.  The numbers and types of police weapons were not recorded, and moreover, these weapons can go missing or be stolen without being noticed by anyone.  JSAC also installed racks with safety lock functions to store the police weapons in all police units, from Provincial, District and Commune Police.  Secondly, JSAC has supported the required training on weapons registration and management for police officers.  Police officers have learned not only the procedures of weapons registration and management, but also basic rules such as the law on weapons and regulations on weapons usage again.  Thirdly, Cambodian police officers visited the police in Japan to study how the police in Japan was stockpiling and managing police weapons.  This project has contributed to establishing a safe and proper stockpiling system for police weapons, and preventing their illicit and uncontrolled flow to civilians’ hands.

The fourth project is the Public Awareness Project.  This project aims to raise public awareness on SALW issues.  Firstly, JSAC develops and distributes a variety of materials, such as posters, T-shirts, leaflets, educational kits, educational films, billboards, etc.  Those materials help to spread the understanding of SALW issues and send anti-weapons messages for civilians.  Secondly, JSAC organizes some special activities nationwide.  On July 9th of every year, JSAC organizes campaign in accordance with “UN SALW Destruction Day” in Phnom Penh.  Peace education events are also held at schools in Phnom Penh and some provinces.  Moreover, these materials and activities have strong links with and positive effects on other projects.  Thirdly, JSAC spreads and shares the experience and efforts of the Government of Cambodia, the Government of Japan and JSAC through maintaining website, issuing various information papers and attending international conferences.  This project has contributed to raising public awareness on SALW issues, encouraging civilians to voluntarily surrender weapons, and promoting the “Culture of Peace” among the population.

The fifth project is the National Commission Support Project.  This project aims to build capacity of “National Commission for the Reform of Weapons, Explosives and Ammunition Management.”  JSAC has conducted 22 seminars on the Arms Law and SALW issues for authorities, police officers and military personnel nationwide with the National Commission, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of National Defense.  JSAC has also supported the printing of posters to disseminate understanding of the Arms Law and regulations on weapons usage to security forces, mainly police officers and military personnel.  This project has contributed to raising capacity of the National Commission and awareness of law regulation on SALW of security personnel.

Lessons Learned

I would like to conclude by introducing two lessons acknowledged through our project implementation.

First, a comprehensive approach, which covers weapons collection, destruction and stockpile management, is essential in tackling SALW problems in affected countries.  JSAC is aiming to reduce, on the one hand, the number of illegally possessed weapons by civilians through the WDP Project, and on the other hand, to reduce dangers caused by legally possessed weapons by police through the Safe Storage and Registration Project, both at the same time.  Eventually, collected illegal and surplus legal weapons are destroyed by the Weapons Destruction Project, and they never be used again.  If a program lacks any one of the elements I have just mentioned, it may face difficulties.  As we can easily imagine, even if an organization collects illegally possessed weapons and does not manage legal weapons of the security forces, their members can sell their weapons to black market and people can obtain those weapons again.  In that case, the illicit circulation of weapons is never stopped.  The comprehensive approach can be a key for effective SALW program.

Second, SALW programs, especially as a part of weapons collection, should be modified in accordance with circumstances of each affected country.  In Cambodia, we try to inform people about the danger and illegality of weapons in workshops, to build confidence in police and authorities, to enhance police capacity for security maintenance, and to foster the “Culture of Peace.”  I do not want to say that our WDP Project is always better than buyback and exchange approaches.  Buyback projects might work in some cases, and exchange projects might be effective in other cases.  Actually, Cambodia experienced the exchange approach, in which weapons were exchanged with incentives such as money or small scale development projects, and it worked before.  In our view, however, our approach is the most effective in the Cambodian context presently.  In JSAC’s program, assisting human relations and creating an environment in favor of weapons surrender in communities have proved successful in dramatically decreasing civilians’ demands for weapons.  These kinds of activities require to stay in the field and to spend a long time together with the population.  In fact, as I mentioned before, a village chief who attended a workshop subsequently showed us the location of hidden 2,482 weapons.  For him, what was important was not to receive development projects in exchange for weapons, but to enhance the public safety of his village.  If the demand factors of SALW, which are people’s sense of insecurity, a “Culture of Violence” and their economic value, are eliminated, a peaceful community built by the program shall be sustainable.  An effective approach to tackle SALW problems in present Cambodia has been different with the one which used to be.  Thus, it is clear that SALW projects should take into account the background and changing situations of target countries and be designed specifically for each.

Finally, I sincerely respect the efforts which have been made by the Government of Cambodia to tackle SALW problems.  Although it is true that SALW problems are still remaining, its situation has dramatically improved.  Now is a good opportunity to move forward to the next step where weapons are managed strictly by law enforcement.  I expect and believe that the weapons management in Cambodia will show more progress and be acknowledged as one of the most successful examples.  In addition, SALW transfers across borders cause a great deal of problems in many countries.  Transfer control of SALW between neighbor countries is crucially important for peace and stability in their surrounding region.  Therefore, I hope that this workshop can be a step to promote the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) for stronger and wider SALW control among the ASEAN member states.

Thank you.