GROUP 2
PHASE 1ANALYSIS OF CURRENT SITUATION OF
ILLEGAL FIREARMS TRAFFICKING AND HUMAN(WOMEN, CHILDREN AND MIGRANTS) TRAFFICKING
Chairperson

Mr. Zafarullah Khan

(Pakistan)

Co-Chairperson

Mr. Yasunari Hataguchi(Japan)Rapporteur

Mr. Sittipong Tanyapongpruch(Thailand)

Co-Rapporteur

Mr. Takashi Maruoka(Japan)Members

Mr. Nouphanh Mahaphonh(Laos)Mr. Zainal Rashid Bin Hj Abu Bakar(Malaysia)

Mr. Bhola Prasad Kharel(Nepal)Mr. Muchwangali Charles(Uganda)Mr. Takao Hamada(Japan)Prof. Yasuhiro Tanabe(UNAFEI)

Advisers

Prof. Hiroshi Tsutomi(UNAFEI)

Prof. Mikiko Kakihara(UNAFEI)

I. INTRODUCTION
Although this planet has many
beautiful things for us to enjoy, in thedark side of it still exists the unpleasantactivities of transnational organizedcriminal groups. Their operations exist in
various forms, including but not limited
to, illegal firearms trafficking and humantrafficking.
Illegal firearms trafficking has recently
developed to be a serious problem. It is
not only posing dangers to the countries
concerned but also the global community
as a whole. Many of the firearms arem ainly smuggled, to be use d for theinternal purposes of one nation. However,there are a certain amount of firearms
that have been smuggled by the criminalgroups for making profits as well as for
fueling the operations of international
terrorism. Illegal firearms trafficking has

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a direct impact on the world economy andsocial values. Moreover, it has indirectly
damaged the democratic institutions.
Human trafficking especially women,children and migrants is another areathat recently has increased in terms ofvolume and practice. The International
Org an ization for Mig ration (IOM)
estimated that the global humantrafficking industry generates up to US$8
billion each year from this “trade on
human misery.” Nearly 2 million children
are abused and trafficked globally every
year. South Asia and South East Asia
take the lead in the volume of trafficking
in ch ildr e n fo r se xu a l e xp lo ita tio n.
Und erstand ing ho w these activitie s
operate is a vital part before an
appropriate countermeasure is taken.
Thus, this paper is a production of aneffort to point out and analyze some

119TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEREPORTS OF THE COURSE
current situations of illegal firearms
trafficking and human trafficking which
occur in some parts of this world.
II. ILLEGAL FIREARMS
TRAFFICKING
The term “illegal trafficking” includes
any form of transfer where firearms,
parts, components or ammunition movefrom one country to another without theapproval of the countries concerned.
Basically there are three categories ofcountry involving in this trafficking asfollows:(i) Illegal manufacturing countries(ii) Transit countries(iii) Effected countries
A. Global Perception of Firearms
Trafficking
Firea rms trafficking is comm itted
internationally by organized criminalgroups and it poses a significant threat
not only to the lives of people but also to
the security and development of eachcountry. Some trafficked firearms are
considered illegally manufactured or
surpluses from military conflicts. For
example, it is estimated that America’s
proxy war with Russia has left
approximately 3 million weapons of allkind unused (packed and greased) on
Afghanistan’s soil.
[ A n e s t i m a t e d $ 6 – 8 b i l l io n w e r e
allocated by Washington for the supply oflight weapons only {Chalk, Peter; Focus}.
The International Institute of Strategic
Studies (I.I.S.S) in London estimate theillicit global market at $5 billion a year
(Focus, Vol. 3, No. 13).]
1. African Continent
I n Uganda, sma ll a rm s come fromneighboring countries that are faced withcivil wars. These countries are Sudan,
Somali, Congo and Rwanda.
The Karamojong, a nomadic tribe in
the Northeastern part of Uganda has inits possession about 200,000 guns, mainly
from Sudan and Somali, and they areusing the arms for cattle rustling. The
firea rms ori gina l ly i m por te d b y t he
Government of Somalia eventually findtheir way out of the country. Rebel groups
and criminals are using these arms in
Uganda to commit atrocities.
In Tanzania, the illegal firearms comefrom its neighboring countries which are
R w a n d a , B u r un d i , U ga nd a , C o n go ,Mozambique and Somali. These guns findmarkets in Tanzania and they are used incommitting offences or are taken to othercountries for illegal use.
In Nigeria, the Nigerian Civil War,between 1967–1970, exposed the country
to an influx of fire arm s. The illegal
firearms trafficking to N ige ria fromneighboring countries has fueled ethnic/
religious armed conflicts and armed
robbery in the country.
2. Asian Continent
In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
certain categories of weapons are illegally
manufactured in its tribal area. These
illegal weapons are sold on profit inside ofPakistan and gets into the hands ofcertain sectarian organizations—who inturn use them for terrorist purposes
inside the country. More over some ofthese weapons trickle down toneighboring countries such as India,
Afghanistan and Iran.
B u t P a k i st a n i s a l so a n e f f e c t e dcountry. The reason being the period from
1979–1988, when the people ofAfghanistan fought a war with the former
Soviet Union, many categories of617

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 59
weapons entered this country. These
weapons were supplied almost all bywestern countries, especially the U.S.A
and its allies, moreover to this were also
added countries like Egypt, Saudi-Arabia
and other Muslim countries who wereagainst the communist ideology of the
USSR. This brought in its wake a culture
known as the “Kalashnikov-culture”.
Organized criminal groups therefore
m ade good m oney by selling andsmuggling them to other countries like
India, Iran and Kashmir, where alreadycertain internal discord existed, and thed emand b y terrorist groups existed.
These weapons were supplied by bothland and sea routes.
As far as Nepal is concerned, this is aneffected country. Due to an increase in
Maoist activities internally and terrorism
by T amil-Nadu, in Sr i-L ank a, th etrafficking of arms has increased todangerous levels. In Nepal firearms are
m a inly sm uggle d for the p urpo se o f
Dacoits and political activities from theneighboring countries. It is said that
Nepalese Maoist (political party) has
many types of firearms which have been
illegally kept and used.
Whereas in India, the state of Punjab
was affected by terrorist activities during
the 1980’s and Jammu and Kashmir havebeen particularly vulnerable to arms
trafficking across the border. India has along borde r with Pakistan, N epal,
Bhutan, China, Myanm ar and
Bangladesh.
Thailand is geographically locatedamong the neighboring countries thathave political unrest in such countries as
Burma and Cambodia. In the past 10
years, a number of firearms has beensmuggled in and out of Thailand into
those two countries. A total number of

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400,000 firearms have been imported
since 1995 and were brought in on fake
import licenses. Those illegal firearms
were then sold to the third p ar tie s/
countries. Tha iland is f ound to b e atransit and effected country.
In the Philippines these activities
works in two ways. The organized crimegroups smuggled the U.S made firearms
into the countries and these firearms areused by the rebel gro ups in fighting
against the government. On the other
hand , locally mad e handguns
manufactured in the Province of Cebu, inCentral Philippines, are smuggled toother countries, pa rticula rly J apa n,
Taiw an a nd othe r AS EAN countrie s
through air and sea. The Philippines is
an illegal manufacturing and effected
country.
Firearms trafficking is not considereda serious problem in Malaysia and many
criminals fea r the ma nd atory dea thsentence that they are liable to face ifarrested with a firearm. For the past two
years (till June 2001) statistics show that
only 413 such firearms comprising mostly
pistols, revolvers and shotguns wereseized and the number of arrests wereabout 461. In 1999, a few have been shotdead in East Malaysia but they wererather foreigners who were involved in
activities such as piracy. Investigation
show s that most of the f irearms are
smuggled from neighboring countries
such as Thailand and the Philippines
either by organized groups or individuals
where they can be obtained quite cheaply
and easily. It is very easy to bring infirearms into the country via the borders,
especially land and sea where it is next to
impossible for the authorities to conduct
thorough observations. Firearms are usedmainly in committing crime. It isestimated that the actual number offirearms made in this country could be 20

119TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEREPORTS OF THE COURSE
times or even more than the firearms
seized. Malaysia is an effected country.
Papua New Guinea is also faced with
the increase of illegal firearms
traffickin g. Reports in dica te t hat
firearms trafficking occur in areas likethe highlands where people have beenusing them in their tribal fights. Highpowered firearms are also being used in
the cities of Port Moresby and Lae as wellas in Bougainville. It is evident that
firearms trafficking in Bougainville wereconveyed from the Solomon Islands andIndonesia. It is noted that firearms are
smuggled into PNG by shipping cargocontainers, light aircraft, parcel port,
f i sh in g t r a w l e r s , a n d sm a l l b o a t s ,crossing the Solomon and Indonesianborder. Papua New Guinea is consideredan effected country.
In Japan, the possession of firearms isstrictly controlled by the Firearms andSwords Control Law. Strict regulations
contribute to the relatively low rate of
firearms-related crimes in Japan, and it
is almost impossible to produce firearms
illegally inside Japan. However, it is also
the fact that occasionally firearms areused in crimes, especially in robberycases. In 1999, police seized 837
authentic handguns (down 92 from theyear before) and the majority of themwere trafficked into Japan from foreignc o un trie s b y cr im e syn d ica te s. T h e
countries where they were made range
from the U.S, the Philippines, Thailand,
to Russia, Korea, China, Brazil, andTurkey. They are cunningly brought into
Japan by such means as being taken into
pieces and hidden in containerized cargo.
In th ese contexts , Japan cou ld b e
categorized a s one of th e effect ed
countries by trafficking of firearms.

3. Latin American Continent
In countries such as Argentina and
Venezuela, illegal firearms trafficking is
a new problem to them. The weapons of
Syrian origin have been smuggled toArgentina. However there is no record on
any organized crime group involved inthose two countries.
Likewise in Honduras, the problem offirearms trafficking started since theirwar with El Salvador and the Contra ofNica ra gua . Th e w e a pon s com e fro m
Nicaragua through their boundaries in
the northern zone. There is a record
where some of the firearms trafficking
have been linked with drugs trafficking
because some Hondurans make deals
with organized crime groups in South
Africa where they exchange weapons
with drugs. The situation becomes worse
where a few organized gangs in Honduras
have a capability in manufacturing theirown hand made guns and almost all thejuveniles in those groups have one eachand they often use them in committing
crime. Honduras authorities find it hard
to control this because more hand madeguns can be manufactured any time.
B raz il also has the sam e p rob le mwhere weapons have been smuggled from
Paraguay through the Port of Rio deJaneiro and Santos in Sao Paulo.
Firearms are used by members oforganized criminal groups to commit
crimes of threat and murder. There isalso evidence that a group involved inillicit drug trafficking in Brazil haveexchanged firearms for cocaine w ith
terrorist groups from other neighboring
countries.
III. HUMAN (WOMEN, CHILDREN
AND MIGRANTS) TRAFFICKING
Trafficking in human beings implies
illegal movement of people from one

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 59
country to another country in violation ofexisting national laws and procedures. In
human trafficking activity, the attention
has be en pa id mostly to wom en andchildren because they are more often thevictims. Basically, there are 2 categories
of country involved in this humantrafficking as follows:(i) Source countries(ii) Destination counties
Focusing on the trafficked person,
there are two types of human trafficking:Som e persons, mainly w omen a ndchildren, are forced to engage in labor
including prostitution in exchange formoney and are exploited. Thus, they areso called forced laborers. On the other
hand, some persons voluntarily engage inillegal work with the purpose of getting
money. Thus, they are so called illegal
immigrants.
A. Global Perceptions of Human
Trafficking
1. African Continent
Apart from South Africa and Libya, theo ther countries in A frica are source
countries of human trafficking.
Nig eria is a source, transit anddestination coun try for tr affick ed
persons. The majority of trafficking from
Nigeria involves females destined forEurope. Italian authorities estimate that
10,000 Nigerian prostitutes work in Italy
and many of them are victims of
trafficking. Nigerians, primarily womenand children are trafficked to work on
plantations in other African countries,
including Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial
G uinea and Benin. Other significant
d estina tion co untries fo r tra ff icke dNigerians include the Netherlands, theC z e c h R e p ub l i c , S p a i n, F ra nc e a n d

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countries in the Middle East. Nigeria also
serves as a transit hub for trafficking inWest A frica a nd t o a lesser extent a
destination point for young children fromnearby West African countries. Womenand children are also trafficked within
Nigeria. There are illegal syndicates
operating within and outside Nigeria
doing huma n trafficking. The entire
business is shrouded in secrecy and someof the victims are transported outside
Nigeria in the guise to pursue educationand gainful employment. The traffickers
employ subtle force, coercion, fraud ando utr igh t d e ce it to ac co m p lis h the ir
objectives.
M a l i i s a s o u rc e a n d d e s t in a t io n
country for trafficked persons, primarily
children. Children from M ali aretrafficke d to Ivory Coa st to w ork o n
co t t o n a n d c o co a p la nt a t io ns o r f ordomestic servitude. Women from Nigeria
are trafficked to Mali for sexual
exploitation.
Due to the prevailing civil war in thenorthern part of Uganda, the country has
become a source of trafficked persons,primarily women and children. The Lords
Resistance Army (an antigovernment
re bel group) based in Sud an has
kidnapped about 10,000 persons from
Uganda to southern Sudan; and forced
them to become soldiers, forced laborers
and sex slaves. Also some women arebeing taken to Europe and the Middle
East by organized groups for purposes of
prostitution. Some of the children taken
to Sud an are sold into slavery to
Sudanese Arabs or exchanged for guns.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is asignificant source country for trafficking
in persons. Wo men are trafficked toEurope, mainly France and Belgium, forsexual exploitation; and boys are119TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEREPORTS OF THE COURSE
trafficked by rebel groups within Congofor forced military services.
Ugandan and Rwandan soldiers, inaddition to Congolese for Democracy
Rebels, reportedly in the recent past haveabducted many Congolese women andgirls from the village they raided andforced them into sexual servitude.
South Africa is a destination country
f o r t r a f f ic k e d p e r s o n s. W o m e n a r e
trafficked within South Africa and fromother African countries (e.g. Angola,
Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia,
Cameroon, Malawi and Rwanda), Asia
(specially Thailand and Taiwan), Eastern
Europe, Russia and the new independent
States. South Africa is also a transit pointf o r t r a f f ic k in g o p e r a ti o n s b e t w e e ndeveloping countries and Europe, theUnited States and Canada.
Generally, human trafficking networks
in Africa are often informal and secretive
in nature, which makes the identificationof networks and traffickers extremely
difficult.
2. Asian Continent
Many pe ople seeking gainful
employment from underdeveloped anddeveloping countries travel on unusualroutes to reach their destination where
there is relative economic prosperity(developed countries). Laos has had thisproblem since 15 years ago.
Some countries are also found to beboth countries of origin and destination
for human trafficking such as India,
China, Thailand, etc.
The growth and development ofThailand in the past 10 years comparedto the n eighbo ring co untrie s h av e
induced foreign people to migra te to
Thailand. Persons from Burma,

Camb odia and Laos are the prim ary
trafficked persons to Thailand to work in
f a r m s, i n d u s tr ia l p la c e s a n d o th e r
sectors. A large number of Thai persons,especially young women and girls, havebeen trafficked internationally to Japan,
Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Europe
and the United State chiefly for sexual
exploita tion a nd, to a lesser degree,
sweatshop labor. Besides, Thailand has
been used as a transit country and thenum b er invo lved is o bviously large.
P e r s o n s e s p e c i a ll y f r o m C h i n a a r e
trafficked through Thailand to a numberof d eveloped countries and more
prosperous neighboring countries. The
organized crime groups bring them as
tourists and later will arrange for forgedvisas and passports. Related foreign
languages are arranged while waiting for
those documents ready. With the cooperation of certain airline officers, they
then traffic persons to the destination
countries.
Malaysia is both a source anddestin ation c ou ntry for t raffic ked
persons. Young women from Indonesia,
Thailand and the Philippines aretraf f ic k ed in to M a lays ia f or se xu al
exp loitation. So me, w ith the help oforganized criminal groups, misuse theirto urist visa s while m any have b een
cheated by these groups. They entered
M a l a ys i a w it h o u t a n y v a l id t r a v e ldocument or through other illegal landing
point and were forced to work until they
pay the organized crime group
substantial amounts of money, normallyunaffordable figures, under threat ofphysical harm and under threat to expose
their illegal alien status to theauthorities. A number (3,625) of them
have been arrested in the last two years
and will be/are being sent back to theirc o u n tr y o f o r i gi n a f te r u nd e r g o i ng
punishment for violation/illegal entry tothis country. Also, a small number of621

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 59
yo ung M a laysia n wo me n, p rimarily
ethnic Chinese are trafficked to Japan,
Canada, the United States and Taiwan
also for sexual exploitation.
In the context of Nepal as a source
country, the main reasons for children
and women trafficking include naturald isa ster, poverty, illitera cy, divorce
between the parents, death of parents,
child labor, sexual abuse, unemployment,
migration, child marriage, polygamy,
violence in the family, etc. Most of thewomen and girls have b een taken to
many countries and sold to brothels forthe purpose of prostitution. Organizedcriminal gangs have been found to be
active behind such inhuman crime andcruelty. This type of crime is mostly
committed outside the national boundary.
I t ha s b ec om e ve ry d iff icu lt f o r th e
criminal justice authorities to arrest andpunish the criminals. It is said that 5,000
to 7,000 women are sold every year fromN e p a l to o t he r co u nt r ie s. T he y ar e
trafficked either forcefully or on thepretext of finding a good job or marriage
or false promise and also are sold as
maids. In recent years some Nepalese
girls, especially from rural areas, havebeen trafficked to the Middle East, East
Asia and South East Asia for commercial
sex purposes. Most of them would notknow where they are taken until thepeople w ho b rought them to stra nge
places have slipped away and they are in
the custody of some strangers who start
to abuse them. Moreover, the children aretrafficked for labor and begging purposes.
Nepal has to face some illegal migrantproblems from Tibet.
Pakistan’s domestic flesh trade does
not a ppear to be backed by powerfulorganized criminal networks as known ino t h e r c o u n tr ie s o f t h e w o r l d . T i n yoperations are clandestine and behindthe curtains.

622

In India and Pakistan the commercial
sex trade is profitable. However women
are kidnapped and end up as prostitutes
domestically. A large number of Indian
young girls from southern India havebe en se nt to Saudi A rabia and Gulf
countries for the same purpose of sexual
exploitation. Moreover certain syndicateshave been identif ied w ho indulge insending men and children for purposes oflabor to western and far easterncountries, including Japan and certain
rich Arab countries.
After the break-up of the U.S.S.R.,
women trafficking in Iran increased in
the sense that these two countries are
acting as transit countries because of
their close pr oximity. H ow eve r, thetrafficked women cannot stay for long inPakistan and Iran because of stringent
immigration laws and Islamic laws.
I n J a p a n, a l th oug h t he re a re f e w
instances of trafficking in the strict sense,th e r e a r e m a ny il le g a l im m i gr a nt s
(smuggling). However, trafficking in the
broad sense is probably not rare because
transnational crime organizations are
involved in almost all these smuggling
cases. The number of persons taken into
custody involved in collective smuggling
cases was 770 (44 cases) in 1999 and 90%of them were Chinese nationals. Most of
the cases were linked to Chinesetransnational crime organizations, Snake
Head, which is a generic term applied toorganizations in charge of smuggling
Chinese people into Japan and othercountries. Snake Head solicits would-be
illegal immigrants and undertakes, inexchange for considerable amounts of
payment, not only their transportation to
Japan but also their shelter after theirarrival in Japan and prepares forgedpassports and other necessary
documents.

119TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEREPORTS OF THE COURSE
IV. ANALYSIS
A. Causes
1. Illegal Firearms Trafficking
Focusing on the causes of the abovementioned two kinds of trafficking, somefactors could be seen in common.
Apparently, one of the common causes isthe fact that these two kinds oftrafficking could bring enormous sums ofmonetary benefit, both in cash and kindto the transnational crime organization.
In addition to that, there are somefactors peculiar to each type of trafficking
like warfare in the source country andeffected country as well as demand forterrorist a nd crime activities in theeffected country.
It is an alyz ed th at il legal arms
proliferation is a global phenomena. It
has extracted a heavy toll in terms ofhuman lives and socio-econom ic
development of entire regions.
In Asia, especially Afghanistan, thedeath toll has passed 200,000 (dead andinjured during the war) and is still rising.
In India, Pakistan, Cambodia, Sri-Lanka
and some African states, they continue to
see conflict related deaths in hundreds.
In Latin American countries such as
Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, etc.
firearms were found to be exchanged forillegal drugs and money making. The
relationship between arms and narcotics
dealers overlap, thus creating a deadly
combination.
It is analyzed that illegal trafficking ofarm s disturbs the public peace,
tranquility and disturbs the balance ofthe economy—thus reducing reliance ofthe public on government organization,
thus causing anarchy.

2. Human Trafficking
There are some factors peculiar to eachtype of trafficking, like economic
imbalances between source country andeffected country, social and politicalinsecurity in the source country a nd
demand in effected country.
It is analyzed that the favorite
destinations of illegal migrants are thedeveloped industrialized nations like the
U.S.A., Japan, Canada, Germany andFrance. Most women from underdeveloped countries wind up as sex slaves
or maidservants in the above-mentioned
countries.
The problem has increased in both sizeand seriousness by the growing
involvement of organized crime groups.
These groups have disrupted theimmigration policies of the governments.
Therefore, there are substantial
h um a n it a r i a n c o n c e r n s a n d i s su e s
related to the global problem of aliensmuggling.
This
also
poses
administrative problems to concernedcountries.
F o r e xa m p le , E u r o p e a n c r im in a lorganizations may pay $6,000 to Asian
Synd ica te s to b uy Chi nese m en a nd
women. The person may have to pay more
tha n $ 1 5 ,0 0 0 to the ir e m p lo ye r s topurchase their freedom. The profit is$9,000 plus free labor.
It is analyzed that at least 700,000
persons, especially women and children,
are trafficked each year acrossinternational borders (UN Human Rights
Report).

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B. Modus Operandi
1. Illegal Firearms Trafficking
Th e m od us o pe ra ndi (h er ein a fte r“m.o.”) of the tra fficking route is asfollows:
a. Firearms arrive in receiving country
as undeclared or misdeclared items
a n d i n c lu d e d w i t h o t h e r g o o d s ,consigned to fictitious names andaddresses;b. Firearms can also be dismantled into
pieces and included among metal
item s or ma chinery pa rts legallyimported or exported in containerizedcargo;
c. Firearms are sometimes thrown fromvessels, boats, etc. at pre-arranged
areas some distance from the shore
where they are later picked up by
small boats and brought toundisclosed places.
2. Human trafficking
The m.o. of the trafficking route is asfollows:
a. Somepersons
arriveatthedestination hiding in the container
cargo. This sea route is the typicaland traditional m.o;b. Some persons take airlines with
forged or altered passports and othernecessary documents. This air routeis a relatively new one.
C. Effect and Conclusion
Looking at the current situation weanalyzed in our Group Work Shop, it isindispensable to take necessary
c o u n te r m e a s u r e s u r g e n t ly a g a i n st
tra fficking in firearms and hum ans.
These crimes have tremendous harmful
eff ects on each country involved.
Firearms trafficking cause even social
a nd political instability, and humantrafficking results in the disruption of624

families in source countries and economic
and social disorder in effected countries
as well as violations of human rights ofvictims, especially women and children.
Intern ational law an d oth er leg al
f r a m e w o r k s h a v e r e g r e t ta b ly b e e ninsufficient to combat these crimes. Law
enf orcement in each country andinternational cooperation in this field
se e m s to h a ve b e e n ine f f e cti ve a ndin e f f ic ie n t s o f a r . T a k i n g i n t o d u econsideration such a situation, the U.N.
C o n v e n t io n a g a i ns t T r a n s n a ti o n a l
O r g a n i z e d C r im e a n d t h e P r o t o c o lagainst trafficking in persons, especiallywomen and children, and the Protocol
against the smuggling of migrants wereadopted in November 2000. The Protocol
against Illicit Trafficking, Parts, Its
Components and Ammunition was also
a d o p t e d i n M a y 2 0 0 1 . A ll a g e n c i e s
involved in criminal justice have to makeevery effort to eradicate trafficking infirearms and humans by fully utilizingthese new legal tools.