It's because there are too many of these damn weapons. Laurance says he hopes a formal campaign will start in the fall. The push to tackle the worldwide scourge of small arms and light weapons came first from Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy. He called for a campaign to stop it. Joseph says that because the weapons are so cheap, readily available, easy to use, durable, and portable, they escalate the violence.
Civilians are frequently targets nowadays because war has changed.
In traditional wars between states,, the purpose was to destroy the enemy army and forced it to surrender. But in the civil wars that now dominate, people are killed on the basis of their identity, not their uniform. If you're a Muslim and you're in the wrong part of Bosnia, you're a target. The violence is getting so bad in certain areas that humanitarian relief agencies like the International Committee of the Red Cross, whose mandate is to assist victims, have had to pull out. Just recently, the agency pulled out of Somalia after eight Red Cross and Red Crescent staff were kidnapped in Mogadishu.