Oxfam is tackling these arms issues and reducing poverty by controlling the flow of illegal weapons, enhancing security for potential victims of armed violence, increasing the livelihood opportunities for everyone and creating local peace communities to resolve local disputes.

Conflict is one of the major causes of poverty; and poverty itself can lead to further conflict and the possession of weapons. Oxfam’s campaigning work aims to break this cycle by controlling the flow of illegal weapons. If people were more aware of the dangers of possessing arms, for everyone concerned, then there would far fewer around.

This will be easier when people don’t feel they need them for personal security, so enhancing security in local communities is also high on the agenda. Key to the success of the project, however, is increasing livelihood opportunities for everyone – less poverty, fewer guns – and establishing local peace committees to arbitrate will also help people to settle their differences without recourse to violence.

In other words, more ‘give peace a chance’ and less ‘revolver’.