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History and Accomplishments
2004-Present
Security
and Development Specialization
The
Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS)
is now offering a specialization in Security and
Development as an option for students pursuing a
Master of Arts in its Graduate School of International
Policy Studies.
SAND
Update
In January, 2004, SAND director, Dr. Edward Laurance,
and then MIIS GSIPS Master's candidate, Samuel Logan,
began a series of updates to the SAND website. These
updates reflect a continued evolution of SAND. The
Program on Security and Development now focuses
on providing to the SAND research community papers,
articles, books, and reports that reflect the current
trends, policies, and field work that represent
security and development work worldwide.
1993-2000
Conventional
Arms Proliferation Project
The evolution of the
Program on Security and Development (SAND) began in September 1993 with
the Conventional Arms Proliferation Project (CAP). CAP was associated
with but not funded by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the
Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS). CAP had three
objectives: 1) to identify ways of promoting restraint in conventional
weapons transfers; 2) to place the issue firmly on the nonproliferation
agenda; and 3) to focus on and promote the effective disposition of the
large numbers of surplus weapons created by the end of the Cold War.
A major part of the
work involved developing and evaluating transparency in armaments,
building on the experience of Edward J. Laurance, who from 1992-94
served as a consultant to the United Nations Panel of Experts
developing a Register of Conventional Arms. CAP hosted a major
conference on the UN Register, pioneered work on developing regional
arms registers, and produced several major publications evaluating the
UN Register. Edward Laurance, David Mussington and Sarah Meek produced
several studies linking arms buildups and conflict. The major work on
surplus weapons involved collecting data and evaluating gun buy-back
programs in U.S. cities and Central America.
CAP was funded by The
Volkswagen Foundation in Germany, the S.H. Cowell Foundation, the
Ploughshares Fund, the Ford Foundation, USIP, and the government of
Canada.
Program
on Arms Control, Disarmament and Conversion
(October 1995-January 1997)
The Program on Arms
Control, Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDC) was founded on 1 October
1995, the name change reflecting the added conversion work with the
Bonn International center for Conversion (BICC). The arms control work
of PACDC continued to focus on transparency in armaments, with annual
evaluations of the UN Register and developing and promoting regional
variants, especially in Asia. As for disarmament, a major study was
conducted for the United Nations of the disarmament process in El
Salvador, for the purpose of generating lessons leaned and policy
relevant theory applicable to similar scenarios. The key conversion
work became field research on weapons buy-back programs in U.S. cities,
Haiti, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. PACDC also
published a practical guide on planning and evaluating weapons buy-back
programs.
The transition to a
primary focus on small arms and light weapons took place during this
period. First, the weapons buy-back programs focused almost exclusively
on this class of weapon. Second, as part of our focus on El Salvador as
a case study, we produced and distributed widely a six-month chronology
of events which chronicled the proliferation, availability, misuse and
negative effects of small arms and light weapons in that country. This
led to the development of a framework for collecting such data on a
global basis. PACDC began posting such data on its web site and was the
primary resource for such data in the research and policy development
community.
In May 1996 Executive
Director Laurance was selected as a consultant to the United Nations
Panel of Experts on Small Arms. In September 1996 BICC published its
Brief # 7, The New Field of Micro-Disarmament, written by Laurance with
PACDC staff member Sarah Meek. In December 1996 Laurance presented a
paper Coping With Small Arms and Light Weapons in Post-Cold War
Conflicts to the Council on Foreign Relation's Center for Preventive
Action.
During this period
funding was provided by the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, the Bonn
International Center for Conversion, and the Carnegie Commission on the
Prevention of Deadly Conflict.
Program
on Arms Control, Disarmament and Conversion
(January 1997-May 1999)
This phase found PACDC
focusing almost exclusively on the issue of small arms and light
weapons. A major study authored by Edward Laurance was completed,
published and widely distributed by the Carnegie Commission of the
Prevention of Deadly Conflict- Light Weapons Accumulations and
Intra-State Conflict: Early Warning Factors and Preventive Action.
Executive Director
Laurance traveled extensively, promoting action to stop the
proliferation and misuse of small arms. He and Director of Operations
William Godnick also consulted extensively with those governments in
the forefront of the global movement toward action on this issue. In
early May 1998, they traveled to Guatemala to carry out a study for
BICC under a grant from the Ford Foundation- Voluntary Weapons
Collection in Central America: El Salvador and Guatemala. In July 1998,
Godnick documented the civil society "Goods for Guns" program in El
Salvador. In September 1998, Godnick documented a smaller, but similar
program in Panama. These reports are some of the first attempts to
analyze non-military micro-disarmament programs beyond journalism and
have served as key inputs to later efforts to develop programs in
Albania and Cambodia. The work of PACDC has succeeded in making
voluntary weapons collection programs an integral part of the discourse
and action of many governments and international organizations
discourse as they address post-conflict peace building.
During this period,
PACDC hosted the Preparatory Committee for a Global Campaign on Small
Arms web site (Project Prep Com). Prep Com created a virtual network of
two hundred NGOs working to curb the spread and unlawful use of small
arms around the world. Prep Com's resources were transferred over to the
International
Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA, http://www.iansa.org)
in May 1999 at the Hague Appeal for Peace. This project lasted eighteen
months with a budget of $160,000. Funds were provided by the
governments of Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the
Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland and Japan as well as the
Ploughshares Fund, MacArthur, Arca, Winston and Riordan Foundations.
Program
on Security and Development
(June 1999-June 2000)
The name change to the
Program on Security and Development (SAND) came about as a result of an
international shift in paradigms when looking at the efforts to reduce
the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons in the
world. The fact that the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
began to implement a "Weapons for Development" pilot project in Albania
in early 1999 is evidence of this shift. SAND carried out three
specific projects during this time period: 1) Geneva 2001 Database; 2)
Monitoring Small Arms Proliferation in Central America; and 3) Tackling
Small Arms: A Practical Guide for Collection and Destruction.
Geneva 2001 Database
The Geneva 2001
database is an electronic collection of official statements made and
actions taken by governments regarding the proliferation and misuse of
small arms and light weapons. This resource was developed by a team of
researchers from the Graduate School of International Policy Studies at
the Monterey Institute of International Studies under the guidance of
Dr. Edward J. Laurance. Researchers collected and organized country
statements made by national governments in the UN General Assembly,
First Committee and other international fora since 1997.
The database was
intended to serve as a tool for those governments and NGOs interested
in having an impact on the outcome of the United Nations conference on
"illicit arms trade in all its aspects" to be held in Geneva in April
2001. The United Nations General Assembly decision to instruct the UN
Group of Governmental Experts on Small Arms to develop a formula for
such a conference in 2001 demonstrates that there is a growing
consensus that the proliferation and misuse of small arms must be
tackled by a global coalition of like-minded governments. By having at
their fingertips all of the official government statements on record
from the last several years policy makers can identify who their
like-minded colleagues are and develop collaborative strategies for the
Geneva 2001 conference.
The Ploughshares Fund
provided the funding for this project. This work will be continued in
the fall of 2000 by a yet to be named organization.
Monitoring Small Arms
Proliferation in Central America
As a continuation of
the work carried out under the name of PACDC in the area of voluntary
weapons collection, SAND researchers collected and organized into a
database English-language abstracts of Spanish-language news articles
relating to small arms related policies, transfers and effects in the
Central American region. In January 1999, SAND graduate assistants
traveled to Nicaragua to obtain field data and promote the
participation of Nicaraguan researchers in this field. Funding for this
work was made possible by Small Arms Survey, an international
publication based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Additionally, SAND's
Bill Godnick continued to be active as a consultant on weapons
collection and the development of Central American NGO capacity to deal
with the problems of small arms in the region. He advised the newly
formed Honduran police on the development of a commission to recover
weapons of war and supported the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human
Progress of Costa Rica in their effort to develop a regional network of
NGOs within the framework of the International Action Network on Small
Arms.
As of 30 June 2000
this program has been discontinued in its current form. Bill Godnick
continues active as a consultant and can be contacted at (desarme_47@yahoo.com).
Tackling Small Arms
and Light Weapons: A Practical Guide for Collection and Destruction
Tackling Small Arms
and Light Weapons: A Practical Guide for Collection and Destruction was
a joint effort of the Program on Security and Development (SAND) at the
Monterey Institute of International Studies and the Bonn International
Center for Conversion (BICC). The Guide is a synthesis of best
practices observed by SAND and BICC during more than five years of
international field research in the area of weapons collection and
disposal. The Guide is also a product of the international community
integrating material from those United Nations agencies, governments
and NGOs who have begun practical work on small arms. Contained within
are sections on environmental assessment, voluntary weapons collection,
safe handling, transport and storage and destruction techniques. It is
designed as a work in progress as the body of knowledge continues to
grow. It will be continuously updated based on field research and the
experience of its users. For those organizations who are planning a
weapons collection program, this Guide can also serve as a basic
framework for a proposal for financial support. This work was made
possible by funding from the foreign ministries of Switzerland, the
Netherlands and Finland.
This resource was
reviewed at workshops hosted by the United Nations in Geneva and New
York. It can be found on the Internet in English, French and Spanish
with other language versions currently under development. The French
version was launched in Geneva in April 2000 in a forum hosted by the
Quaker United Nations Office. The Help Desk for Practical Disarmament
at BICC took over the responsibility of updating the Guide and advising
its users in June 2000. The Help Desk can be contacted by e-mail (helpdesk@bicc.de).
The Year 2000 and
Beyond
As of 1 July 2000 the
work of the SAND program had been completed or transferred to several
other organizations which had been collaborators with SAND. The SAND
web site will continue to be available to the general public. In the
fall of 2000, SAND Executive Director Edward Laurance will conduct a
survey of research and advocacy needs in the field of small arms
proliferation, with the goal of developing a plan of action for the
next phase of SAND starting in January 2001.
Dr. Laurance continues
his work in this field, serving on the boards of and collaborating with
the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), Human Right
Watch Arms Division and the Small Arms Survey. He can be reached at elaurance@miis.edu as
well as 831-647-4142 after 1 September 2000.
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