Presentation on
“Peace Building and Comprehensive Small Arms Management Programme in Cambodia”
as Best Practice in Cambodia

bｙ Yasumitsu Kida, Project Manager, Japan Assistance Team for Small Arms Management in Cambodia (JSAC)
at the United Nations Workshop on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in Bangkok

May 18, 2006

Thank you Mr. Chairman.  I have a great honor to be here today and to make a presentation on our program in Cambodia as one of the “Best Practices” of SALW projects.

The SALW Problem in Cambodia

Turning firstly to an overview of the SALW problem in Cambodia, a large number of weapons that were used during the long civil war involving the Khmer Rouge 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 and 500,000 before.  These arms are kept by civilians as weapons of self-defense, and are also often used in crimes caused by poverty.  The proliferation of SALW has been one of the largest problems in Cambodia, and has been acknowledged as such by the Cambodian Government. 

History of the Programme

It was in this context that, Kentaro Gemma, a SALW specialist and former Project Manager for JSAC, conducted a feasibility study from 2001.  His study concluded that comprehensive measures to tackle SALW issues were needed in Cambodia.  As a result, the government of Cambodia and the government of Japan agreed to implement “Peace Building and Comprehensive Small Arms Management Programme in Cambodia” under the scheme of peace building grant aid, and Japan Assistance Team for Small Arms Management in Cambodia (JSAC) was established in April 2003 under the management of the Japan International Cooperation System (JICS).

JSAC had conducted its first phase program from April 2003 to September 2005 in northwestern Cambodia: Otdar Meanchey Province, Banteay Meanchey Province and Siem Reap Province.  The area was one of the last strongholds of the Khmer Rouge.  JSAC had collected 11,662 SALW in these provinces and had assisted in destroying 15,646 SALW, including surplus weapons in police possession.

After the completion of the first phase, JSAC has started implementation of its second phase since October 2005 in western Cambodia: Battambang Province and Kompong Thom Province.  Those areas were also hot battlefields during the civil war era.  JSAC has collected 6,189 SALW and has assisted in destroying 1,853 SALW so far.

Strategy of JSAC

JSAC’s program consists of 5 projects, designed as comprehensive set to reduce weapons and to build peace.  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 mention 3 projects: WDP Project, Weapons Destruction Project and Safe Storage and Registration Project, which are relevant to the agenda of this meeting.

The first project is the WDP Project, where JSAC encourages civilians to voluntarily surrender SALW through educational workshops.  Adding to that, in order to improve actual security and residents’ confidence in security forces, JSAC supports police agencies by providing necessary materials and training for capacity building.  Development projects are conducted in communities where people have surrendered all weapons.  It is neither buyback nor exchange of weapons, but encourages people to voluntarily surrender SALW through repeated educational workshops.  I do not want to say that our project, WDP, is better than buyback and exchange projects.  Buyback projects might be effective in some cases, and exchange projects might work in other cases.  However, WDP is workable in Cambodia.  Actually, 17,851 SALW have been surrendered through WDP Project so far.  Statistics show that a lot of people surrender their weapons voluntarily after JSAC workshops.  Just last month, 2,482 cached weapons of the Khmer Rouge were excavated in Samlot District, Battambang Province thanks to a tip from an individual who happened to be a participant at JSAC’s workshop.  These are typical results of JSAC’s weapons collection activity by educational workshops in grassroots level.  JSAC is aiming to reduce SALW illegally possessed by civilians since the civil war through WDP Project.

The second project is the Weapons Destruction Project.  This project aims to burn and destroy weapons collected from civilians through 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 run 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 people a positive and symbolic image of their direct contribution to building a peaceful community without weapons.

The third project is the Safe Storage and Registration Project.  This project is aiming to build safe and proper stockpiling system for legally possessed weapons by police, and prevent their outflow to civilian’s hands.  JSAC supports the Ministry of Interior in managing effective stockpiling and computerized registration systems for weapons legally possessed by the national police.  This has contributed to the establishment of a safe weapons stockpiling and proper management system, and prevents further outflow of weapons into civilian hands.  Warehouse and racks to store legally possessed weapons by police are built, and necessary training for registration and management are conducted for police officers.

Conclusion

I would like to emphasize as conclusion that comprehensive approaches, which cover weapons collection, destruction and stockpile management, are inevitable to tackle SALW problem in affected countries.  On one hand, JSAC is aiming to reduce the number of illegally possessed weapons by civilians through WDP Project, on the other, to reduce dangers caused by legally possessed weapons by police through Safe Storage and Registration Project both at the same time.  Eventually, collected illegal weapons and surplus legal weapons are destroyed by Weapons Destruction Project.  If a program lacks any one of them, it may face difficulties.  As we can easily imagine, even if an organization collects illegally possessed weapons hardly and does not manage legally possessed weapons, security force can sell their weapons to black market and people can obtain those weapons again.  Circulation of weapons is never stopped.  The ways in which to collect, destroy and manage SALW may be differentiated and modified in each area.  However, comprehensive approaches which include those aspects are important for an effective SALW program.

I heard that it has been decided a session on “Exchange Views on Progress and Problems in the Implementation of the Programme of Action with specific emphasis on International Cooperation and Assistance and Best Practice of SALW projects” will be held at Review Conference in next month.  I hope to have further discussion on best practice and actual experience at that time.