But despite the availability of over 600 million small arms in open and underground markets, there is no international treaty to control the reckless proliferation of these light weapons worldwide.

"Dinosaur bones and old postage stamps", yes, but a treaty on small arms, no, says Sarah Margon, director of Oxfam.

"No one but a criminal would knowingly sell a gun to a murderer, yet governments can sell weapons to regimes with a history of human rights violations or to countries where weapons will go to war criminals," she points out.

Currently, the United Nations is holding a two-week preparatory meeting -- due to conclude Jan. 20 -- preparing the ground for a landmark Review Conference on small arms in July.

"There is a growing awareness that the current loopholes in the arms export laws cannot be allowed to persist," Anthea Lawson of the London-based International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) told IPS.

Arguing that the global arms trade is "out of control", she said that every year thousands of people die at the barrel of a gun.

"We are reasonably confident that governments will recognise the need for some kind of global standard for small arms transfers at the Review Conference in July," she said.

In order to be effective, Lawson said, this standard needs to be based on international law. "This would then provide a vital stepping stone for negotiations on a treaty to begin later in the year," she said.

Although 43 states and several regional blocs have clearly stated their support for an arms trade treaty, others do not yet have formal positions, she added. The 43 supporters include Belgium, Cambodia, Denmark, Finland, the Vatican, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland and Britain.

Until negotiations begin, those in opposition will not say so explicitly. However, among those expressing the least enthusiasm at the moment are India, Egypt, Iran and the United States, Lawson pointed out.

In 2001, the United Nations adopted a programme of action to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. This was considered a "major achievement" because it was the first time that arms proliferation was tackled at a global level.

"But the agreement was limited in scope, and progress since has been patchy," according to Lawson.

Addressing delegates Monday, Earl Turcotte of Canada said he was struck by the innocuous sound of the words "small arms" and "light weapons", since their collective impact on people was anything but small and light.

He said there were in excess of some 600 million small arms and light weapons in circulation worldwide. Last year, small arms alone were instrumental in the deaths of over half a million people -- 10,000 per week.

"The vast majority comprised civilians, and at least a third were struck down in countries at peace," Turcotte said.

The upcoming Review Conference in July is a seminal opportunity to set a clear timetable for continuing the U.N. process, increase momentum and produce substantial, concrete results over the next five-year period in the implementation of the programme of action, he added.

Sylvester Rowe of Sierra Leone, who was elected chairman of the current preparatory meeting, told delegates that one of the best credentials he had for his assignment was the fact that he comes from a country that has experienced -- and is still experiencing -- the agony and the devastating consequences of the illicit trade, circulation and use of "what were euphemistically described as small arms and light weapons".

There was an emerging recognition that small arms and light weapons were, in fact, the real "weapons of mass destruction", he added.

Meanwhile, there have been new case study reports from Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone focusing on "irresponsible arms transfers".

All three countries produce very few arms, but they have been flooded with weapons, "which have been used to kill, maim, displace and impoverish hundreds of thousands of people", according to Denise Searle, Amnesty International's senior campaign director..

"Time and again, peacekeeping efforts have been undermined by the failure of governments to introduce effective arms controls," he said.

"For the sake of millions of men, women and children who live in continual fear of armed violence, world leaders must seize this historic opportunity to begin negotiations on an arms trade treaty," he added.