Alpers, Philip and Conor Twyford. 2003 ‘Pacific Small Arms Legislation: Domestic and regional issues.’ Small Arms in the Pacific; Occasional Paper No. 8, p. 57. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. 31 March

Relevant contents

Pacific island states are firmly committed to addressing small arms issues in their region, and to this end, have broadly agreed upon a set of joint initiatives entitled Towards a Common Approach to Weapons Control, known as the Nadi Framework (SPCPC and OCO, 2000). If uniformly adopted, the Nadi Framework legislation would significantly improve upon the existing firearm laws of many states, and provide a common regional deterrent to small arms traffickers. The draft legislation and other measures contained in the Nadi Framework are discussed in detail in Section VI.

All countries in the Pacific were at one stage protectorates or colonies. Most, but not all - New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna, for instance, are still under French rule - became independent during the 1960s and 1970s. With some exceptions, such as Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, most of the smaller states have not significantly altered their firearm legislation since independence. Rather, existing legislation tends to reflect the legislative style and attitudes to firearm control of former colonial administrations (see the box below). Appendix 1 lists the relevant laws for each of the jurisdictions covered in this study.

Reference:

South Pacific Chiefs of Police Conference (SPCPC) and Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO). 2000. Towards a Common Approach to Weapons Control ('Nadi Framework'). Nadi. 10 March.

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