The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD Centre) launched a handbook for legislators today entitled Missing Pieces: A guide for reducing gun violence through parliamentary action. In their presentation of the handbook, IPU Secretary General Anders B. Johnsson and HD Centre Director Martin Griffiths stressed the need for action: "The statistics are damning. There are currently an estimated 640 million small arms and light weapons in circulation – from handguns and assault rifles to shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. Most of this arsenal, or about 60%, is in the hands of civilians. Recent dramatic events have proved the urgent need for action".

A further seven to eight million new weapons are added to the global stockpile every year, as well as at least 10 billion units of ammunition. Guns are light, cheap, durable, easy to conceal and easy to operate, and therefore pose a pernicious threat to human security in countries at war and at peace alike. While landmines kill or maim between 15,000 and 20,000 people a year, small arms and light weapons take between 200,000 and 270,000 lives in countries "at peace" alone, through homicide and suicide – up to five times more, depending on estimates, than die directly from gunfire in situations of war. The number of war wounded and disabled ranges anywhere from two to thirteen times the number killed.

The economic cost of this violence is staggering. It is now recognized that armed insecurity poses a grave threat to sustainable development. Shots do not even need to be fired for firearms to be used to threaten, coerce, intimidate and abuse, including by committing acts of sexual violence at gunpoint. The trauma and pain guns leave in their wake take years to overcome, and may never heal.

Parliamentarians have a critical role to play in turning the tide of gun proliferation and violence. By strengthening or drawing up national laws, improving implementation and enforcement, stimulating and leading public debate, parliaments set new standards for reducing the societal impacts of gun violence. The handbook has thus been designed for legislators engaged in the UN process on small arms control, to guide, inspire and suggest steps to be taken to address the complex phenomenon of gun violence. It is currently available in English, French and Spanish.

In May 2006 the IPU adopted a landmark resolution on "The role of parliaments in strengthening control of trafficking in small arms and light weapons and their ammunition". The handbook provides further guidance on how the resolution’s provisions can be implemented in practice.

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Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 148 affiliated parliaments and seven regional assemblies as associate members. The world organisation of parliaments has an Office in New York, which acts as its Permanent Observer at the United Nations. The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue is a Geneva-based think tank dedicated to the promotion of humanitarian principles, the prevention of conflict and the alleviation of its effects through dialogue. Over the years, the Centre has conducted considerable work in the field of human security and small arms.
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Contact for additional information or interviews:

Mrs. Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer Phone: +41 22 919 41 16 Mobile: +41 79 649 71 45 Fax: +41 22 919 41 60 E-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cbl@mail.ipu.org Information and accreditation: Mr. Chrys Kelana, Indonesian Information Officer of the 116th Assembly. Phone: +62 21 831 7515 Mobile: +62 816 77 1912 Fax: +62 21 831 4371 E-mail: chkelana@indosat.net.id