A Human Security Concern: The Traffick, Use and Misuse of Small Arms and Light Weapons in the Caribbean
This paper looks at the place of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) as a threat to Human Security with specific reference to the Caribbean context. The concept of Human Security for the purpose of this paper is not limited to a State centric realist definition of the concept. Human Security is interpreted and interrogated within a more people centred approach to the concept. The intent of the paper is to outline the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weight weapons within the framework of a compromised Human Security and as a hindrance to development.
It further explores the major considerations of Human Security for the Small Island Developing States of the Caribbean region, investigating the political and economic development path as a contributor to and facilitator of this compromised security. Additionally, the unique geopolitics and economics of regional development and the space created for the proliferation of SALW is also looked at in terms of providing as holistic as possible an understanding of the factors which determine the mis-use of SALW within the region.
