ABSTRACT
Faced with continuing thefts of small arms and ammunition from state armouries, followed by surging gun violence and social disruption, Papua New Guinea (PNG) destroyed more than a third of its remaining military firearms. Although on a world scale the numbers were small, this disposal of surplus military small arms by the largest developing nation in the Pacific is shown to have been markedly successful in both implementation and effect. The five-year disposal process was encouraged by catalytic events, simultaneous rationalization of the PNG defence force, key individuals acting as persistent agents of change, and a foreign donor government providing encouragement, financing, and logistic support. Small arms disposal was not conducted in isolation, but as an integral component of a simultaneous, and ximuch wider, rationalization of all assets of the PNG Defence Force. Despite this, political sensitivity remains high. Neither key party to the rationalization of the PNG defence force wishes to publicly acknowledge that Australia, Papua New Guinea’s former colonial overseer and even now the holder of crucial purse strings, was instrumental in halving the nation’s stockpile of military small arms.
