CIAO DATE: 07/05

SALW Awareness in Schools - Towards a National Curriculum

Abstract

Children are naturally curious. This leaves them vulnerable to small arms and light weapons (SALW), because while playing they may search for them, or try to handle booby-traps, abandoned weapons and explosives outdoors. While it is common knowledge that young people, especially boys, display a fascination for guns, research such as that cited in Figures 11 and 22 shows the huge gap between what parents would expect children to do when placed in a context where weapons are present, and what they really do.

The very high levels of SALW possession in South Eastern Europe (see Table 1) mean that inevitably children will be exposed to weapons at a dangerously young age. Therefore it is important that children are equipped to make the safest possible response in this situation.

Full Text (PDF, 36 pages, 1.96 MB)