Karinthy Model United Nations
NATO North Atlantic Council
Combating arms smuggling in the territory of
NATO countries
Submitted by:
Róbert Józsa, Anna Csépányi
Date of submission
25.01.2017.
Illicit trade in small arms and light weapons occurs everywhere around the globe, and
it mostly happens due to the many illegal groups and the wars that they take part in. They are
the groups that are responsible for most of the illegal arms buying and trafficking.
What the Paris attacks of 2015 made clear is that European authorities are struggling
to catch up with this phenomenon. Those working in the field of gun control mention that law
enforcement agencies only began paying attention to illicit arms trafficking after 2011, when
some European governments noticed increasing numbers of illegal arms found in spot checks.
Since then, the rise of terror-linked shootings has prompted closer collaboration between
European countries: in 2013, the European Commission made tackling gun violence a
priority, by adopting a comprehensive blueprint for European cooperation on the issue.
However, knowledge about the size of the market and how organized crime and gunrunning
networks function is still fairly patchy, particularly with regards to sharing information with
the Balkan nations.
Definitions
Gun smuggling is defined as the illegal trade of arms. It is often referred to as
gunrunning or illegal arm trafficking.
There is no universally accepted definition of a 'small arm' or of a 'light weapon'. The
Small Arms Survey, a global centre whose aim is to provide impartial and policy-relevant
knowledge on the issue of small arms, is based on the proposal put forward by the 1997 UN
Panel of Governmental Experts which takes portability, a defining characteristic of the matter,
into consideration. The Panel’s list includes civilian, private, and military weapons that fire a
projectile with the condition that the unit or system of weaponry may be carried by an
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individual, a small number of people, or transported by a pack animal or a light vehicle. The
Panel’s list is organized into 'small arms' and 'light weapons'. There are no universally
accepted definitions for these terms, however, there are certain types of weapons which are
accepted to fall into one of the two categories, such as the ones mentioned below.
Small arms: revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, assault rifles, sub-machine
guns and light machine guns
Light weapons: heavy machine guns, hand-held, under-barrel and mounted grenade
launchers, portable anti-aircraft guns, portable anti-tank guns, recoilless rifles, portable rocket
launchers and rocket systems; portable launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems
(MANPADS); and mortars of calibres of less than 100 mm.
The Black Market: The black market isn’t a single person or country, nor is it an
organization. The black market is the illegal network of traffickers, terrorists and criminal
organizations where arms and other outlawed products are sold illegally.
Straw purchaser: Straw buyer (or purchaser) is a person who buys something (for example,
guns) for someone else who is prohibited from doing so, due to his background, mental state
or any other reason for exclusion. Straw purchasing is illegal.
Spot Checks: Inspections carried out without any previous notification, usually by a nation,
at, for example, border checks or companies.
Timeline
1914 – 1918: As the First World War broke out, countries had to find various ways of
acquiring weapons and ammunition. The most strenuous way was to smuggle weapons to the
local resistance or militia. This was one of the most life-threatening ways of acquiring
weapons, because if the smugglers were caught, they would have been killed, or, in some
cases, tortured to death.
1939 – 1945: During these years, the Second World War was in full swing. The Allied and
Axis forces were attacking each other continuously and their attacks were militarily more
advanced than in the previous war. They had to find various ways to accumulate ammunition.
The Japanese used underground tunnels to smuggle weapons to and from the frontlines. These
tunnels were several miles long and if the smuggler got lost, there was only a slim chance of
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getting out alive. The tunnels were full of hidden traps to prevent non-Japanese soldiers,
partisans, and other such people to go through them.
1950s to 2000s: In the second half of the 20th Century, illegal arms trade started to become
more prominent, and was usually present in underground organizations, such as gang activity.
Between June 30 1990 and July 1 1991, 42.5% of firearms used to commit murders or mass
murders were standard shotguns or rifles, both of which are small arms or light weapons.
Handguns and pistols were only responsible for around 26%. During this time, weaponry and
arms got more common within civil society, as citizens could find multiple manufacturers for
guns, such as the AK 47
2000s to the Present: At the start of the 21st Century, the world was becoming dependent on
technology. Due to dependency on illicit weaponry, illegal arms trade is on the rise in
countries suffering from civil war, such as Iraq and Somalia. Unstable underground tunnels
are usually a preferred route of smuggling.
Issues in connection to the Mexican-American border
Mexico has some of the most restrictive gun legislations in the world, whereas in the
USA there are less limitations on the question of guns. Despite the fact that Mexico does not
manufacture small arms, light weapons or ammunition in sizeable quantities, an estimated 15
million guns were in circulation in the country in 2012, 85% of which is believed to have
come illegally from outside the country.
The vast majority of these illegal arms originate from the US. The United States of
America is one of the most affected territories among NATO countries, when it comes to gun
smuggling. Most arms are illegally trafficked through the Mexican-American border.
It is believed that a considerable proportion of weapons in Mexico is illegal. The
amount of firearms sold in the United States and trafficked across the Mexican-American
border is extremely difficult to enumerate. According to a report by the Mexican
governmental research service, known as the Centro de Estudios Sociales y de Opinión
Pública (CESOP), an estimated 2,000 weapons enter Mexico illegally from the United States
by the day.
Research on arms trafficking convictions and arms embargo violations conducted by
Reuters, a British economic and political newspaper, after reviewing 185 arms trafficking
convictions, found that the median jail sentence for an arms trafficker convicted in the United
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States was 21 months. In comparison, the average sentence for a convicted bank robber is
over 5 years.
The review also concluded that Companies and individuals often receive different
types of punishment after violating arms embargoes. Typically, companies who violate arms
embargoes are only punished to pay fines, although sometimes these are as high as millions of
dollars. On the other hand, an individual who has sold arms illegally, would typically face jail
time.
The Situation in Europe
The first notable attack connected to arms smuggling happened in 2012, when
Mohamed Merah, a Muslim French terrorist, shot and killed three soldiers and four civilians
in the French city of Toulouse. In May 2014 Mehdi Nemmouche, a Jihadist terrorist, opened
fire at the Brussels Jewish Center, killing four people. In January 2015, three gunmen shot 17
people in separate attacks at the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher
supermarket. The following month, a 22-year-old Danish man killed a person in a café in
Copenhagen, and later a Jewish security guard as well.
“The fact is that we are seeing home grown, localized threats within communities,
who know where firearms are.” – said Brian Donald, Chief of Staff at Interpol in an interview
for Time magazine after the attack in Copenhagen in February 2015. “They don’t have to
have a big terrorist network to support them, they can go out and buy one [weapon] on the
street. That is what the police in Europe are facing.”
For E.U. officials, the Paris and Copenhagen attacks have confirmed a suspicion that
illegal weapons are flowing freely through Europe’s 26-country Schengen zone, which allows
near frictionless travel across borders.
The unstable situation in the Middle East meant a significant growth on the black
market. The demand for arms increased rapidly in areas where ISIS started its campaign.
Eastern European countries have approved the discreet sale of more than one billion Euros of
weapons in the past four years to Middle Eastern countries that are known to ship arms to
Syria.
Thousands of assault rifles, rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons and heavy machine
guns are being transported through a new arms route from the Balkans to the Arabian
Peninsula and countries bordering Syria.
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According to a report conducted by the United Nations concerning arms exportation,
the munitions they looked at were mostly sent eastwards from Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the
Czech Republic, Montenegro, Slovakia, Serbia, and Romania.
The abovementioned European countries have not violated any laws by selling arms to
Middle Eastern countries, such as Saudi Arabia, but the destinations of the exported guns
were the key arms markets for war affected zones in that region.
Both Turkish and Greek coastguards have confiscated huge amounts of ammunition
hidden in cargo ships. In some cases, these numbers were extremely high; in September 2015,
5000 shotguns and half a million rounds of ammunition were seized near Crete. The
destination was an ISIS-controlled territory in Libya.
The Balkans
“There are links between organized crime and terrorists, and a route that goes from
the Balkans.”
Christophe Crépin, spokesman for France’s national police union
1990 was the year when countries situated in the Balkans experienced drastic changes.
Yugoslavia had fallen apart, and simultaneously with that, there were political changes in the
region; a transition from socialism to democracy took place.
From the conflict between Croatia and Bosnia a war escalated (1991-1995). The
outbreak of the war led to the introduction of several international sanctions among which the
most important was the arms embargo on all the republics of the former Yugoslavia. The
measures had little effect on Montenegro and Serbia since they had inherited the stockpiles of
the Yugoslav People’s Army. However, the measures made it impossible for Croatia and
Bosnia to build up their armed forces, so these countries resorted to smuggling arms. There
are no exact statistics available on the value of the capital flowing through this illegal arms,
but it is believed to be 578 million in USD between 1993 and 1995.
Since the turn of the 21st century, the region has witnessed increasing political
stability and socioeconomic adjustment, due to which, the threat of armed conflict in the
region has decreased. However, levels of handgun ownership and armed violence remain
high.
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According to the Small Arms Survey, carried out in 2012, focusing on the Western
Balkans, the following statements can be made:

The Western Balkans is home to an estimated 3.6–6.2 million registered and
unregistered firearms.

At least 500,000 and up to 1.6 million households own firearms in the Western
Balkans.

Since 1995, the average homicide rate in the region has decreased excessively,
stabilizing at around 2.0 per 100,000 inhabitants between 2007 and 2010.

Nevertheless, the homicide rate is still significantly higher than in other European
regions, and homicides are more frequently committed with firearms.

About 1.2 per cent of all survey respondents reported that a household member was
held at gunpoint in the 12 months prior to the administration of the survey.
Due to a large amount of reserves in the West Balkans, the black market is flourishing
when it comes to arms and ammunitions. Many terrorist groups have realised the possibility
of getting hold of weapons quite easily from the territory. Some investigators even claim that
the rifles with which the Paris attacks were carried out were imported from the Balkans. On
13 November 2015, 90 people were killed in Paris with rifles, which might have been
smuggled into France through the Balkans.
Conclusion
Altogether, it can be seen, that arms smuggling is not only a problem of recent times,
but rather it has been present since major armed forces were fighting each other. It also must
be mentioned that this is not only an economic or humanitarian issue, but also one that must
be seen from a military and national security viewpoint, since it can only be tackled with the
help of these divisions of governments and organisations concerned with such matters.
However, its impact on economy and humanitarian issues should also be taken into
consideration.
Arms smuggling is a problem that affects more and more people in Europe, the Middle
East and Northern America, because of the increase in terror attacks, which are closely linked
to the spread of illegal arms in this area. It is also linked to the duration and length of many
civil wars that are fought, since rebellious groups, minorities, et cetera often do not get aid
from organizations or bodies from which they could get their supply of weaponry, therefore
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they are restricted to buying arms illegally. Because of these factors, arms smuggling has
become one of the most important issues that the North Atlantic Council must deal with
currently.
Questions to consider

To what extent is your nation affected by illegal trafficking of arms?

How can legal arms trade, serving illegal organizations or terrorists, be stopped?

Would stricter arms control be necessary in your country and internationally, and if
so, by what means should it be achieved?

What should be done with the old reserves of arms from previous wars?

Should stricter punishments be introduced for gun smugglers? If yes, how?

How can the problem of the free flow of products inside the Schengen zone be solved?
Useful links and Sources
1. http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/G-Issue-briefs/SAS-AV-IB4Western-Balkans.pdf
2. http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey2013.html
3. http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey2013.html
4. http://www.dw.com/en/the-balkan-route-to-western-europe-for-yugoslavia-guns/a18896280
5. https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/organized-crime-and-humantrafficking/trafficking-in-firearms_en
6. http://time.com/how-europes-terrorists-get-their-guns/
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