Committee: DISEC
Topic: Preventing the Illicit Arms Trade
Country: Seychelles
Delegate: Sam Sullivan
The illicit arms trade is an obscenely awful issue that currently plagues this world. The biggest issue with the illicit arms trade is the movement and ease of access of small arms. There are about 875 million small arms in the world, and three fourths of those are owned by the civilian population. There are about one thousand people are killed every day by small arms and millions more are wounded. This is a problem that affects all people regardless of nationality, wealth, or social status. In the past, the UN has tried to fix this ongoing problem but has been met with almost no positive results. In 2013 the UN passed the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in an effort to reduce the flow of illicit weapons moving between nations. Due to many nations not signing the treaty and many more doing a poor job to follow it the ATT has seen little to no success as a solution to the ongoing crisis of the illicit arms trade.
The nation of seychelles has always had gun regulations in place to ensure the safety of their people. In such a small country that only has a are of roughly 120 sq. mi. And a population of only 95,000 gun control is a small but noticeable issue in our country. To own a firearm, smallarm, in Seychelles a permit is required. If you were to be found with a gun in your possession the consequence would be up to one year in prison and a fine of up to 150 U.S. dollars. Seychelles has viewed the illicit gun trade as something that must be contained and eradicated. As the gun violence in Seychelles is 5.4 for every 100 residents and the homicide rate in Seychelles is 8.4. As you can see from this data a decrease in the illicit weapons trade would help our country in a number of ways.
Seychelles will support any resolution that supports: an increase in the monitoring of the weapons trade, the decrease of the amount of illegal weapons being sold and transported internationally. And the renewal of the ATT treaty with more required participation. Or any valid substitute for that treaty.
https://seylii.org/sc/legislation/consolidated-act/80
https://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/
- Sam Sullivan