Some States need help at the national level in developing or strengthening legislation to control the flow of these weapons, while others need to build capacity in creating more effective law enforcement mechanisms. Over the last year, regional declarations, such as those in Brasilia, Bamako and the OSCE in November and December 2000 described the dire situation from those regions perspectives and sought common approaches to this politically sensitive security issue. Inter-American convention against the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition and explosives. That convention went a long way to developing a common language, methods and approach for the countries in the region. Civil society has championed the human costs and humanitarian disaster of the over-abundance of small arms.
Men constitute the majority of the killers and killed.
Civilians, especially women and children, are now the majority of victims of conflicts and they endure the ravages of crime and abuse with weapons or under the threat of weapons. Children suffer all round, victims of war or recruited by force into war. Families and entire communities are made refugees at the threat of the violence of illegal guns. In the lead up to the Conference, non-governmental groups organized effective activism and advocacy for better control over these weapons. At the global level, the United Nations Conference will be open to all the members of the General Assembly, observers, inter-governmental organizations and UN agencies and programmes.