A/HRC/32/21 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 29/10, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit a report on the different ways in which the civilian acquisition, possession and use of firearms have been effectively regulated, with a view to assessing the contribution that such regulations make to the protection of human rights, in particular the right to life and security of person, and to identify the best practices that may guide States to further develop relevant national regulation. 2. To prepare the report, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) sought inputs from Member States, international and regional organizations, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations.1 The report further draws on a diverse range of public sources, including international and regional instruments, the practice of United Nations human rights mechanisms and reports of regional and humanitarian organizations, civil society, scholars and practitioners. 3. In the present report the High Commissioner provides an overview of the impact of the misuse of firearms on the enjoyment of human rights. Placing the topic within a broader context of regulation of civilian access to firearms, he examines the different ways and means that the civilian acquisition, possession and use of firearms have been regulated at the international, regional and national levels, discussing, where relevant, their efficiency and elements of best practices. He concludes with a number of conclusions and recommendations. 4. There is no internationally agreed definition of the term “firearms”. 2 “Firearms” encompasses both “small arms” and “light weapons”; however, no agreement exists on what types of arms fall into either subcategory. The principal reference regarding the scope of “small arms” and “light weapons” is the one provided in the 1997 report of the Panel of Governmental Experts on Small Arms (see A/52/298). Furthermore, instruments related to firearms refer to “civilian access to firearms”, “civilian possession of firearms” and “civilian ownership of firearms” in a general sense and as shorthand for a more complex set of rules covering the acquisition, possession and use of firearms. In the present report, “civilian access” encompasses all three components: acquisition, possession and use. 1 2 2 Contributions were received from Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, France, Greece, Honduras, Jamaica, Madagascar, Mauritius, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Romania, Senegal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkmenistan, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Uruguay, the International Small Arms Control Standards Inter-Agency Support Unit, the Office of the Ombudsman of Montenegro and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. All contributions are available on the OHCHR website. The term is used in Human Rights Council resolution 29/10 and in the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the InterAmerican Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and other Related Materials. Other documents, including reports of United Nations bodies such as the Panel of Governmental Experts on Small Arms, and regional instruments, such as agreements adopted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), refer to “small arms and light weapons”.