According to Joshua Katta,
a Pokot chief in Kolowa Kenya, in 1967 weapons were the old
and heavy Lee-Enfield mark IV guns of WW1 vintage and their
price was heavier still – 60 cows apiece. By 1986,
the price was down to 15 cows and the rifles were the more
lethal AK47. By 2001, they cost only 5, or even 4, head of
cattle each.
Women and children are particularly
vulnerable. Domestic violence can have deadly consequences
when men have guns.
Women and girls are also raped at gunpoint while collecting
firewood and water away from home, or while they are in refugee
camps and jails. At least 15,700 women and girls in Rwanda
and 25,000 in Bosnia and Croatia were reported raped during
these armed conflicts. And, with many rifles now light and
simple enough to be stripped, reassembled, and used by a
child of ten, it’s not surprising that an estimated
300,000 children are working as soldiers in conflicts around
the world.
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