Gun control activists said on Monday the world was awash in small arms, fuelling violence, and called for global co-operation and stricter limits on the trade. "You can't control international arms proliferation, especially small arms proliferation, without international co-operation," said Brian Wood, Amnesty International's arms and security trade research manager. "We want tough action."
A human rights report by a consortium of groups highlighted the impact of guns on the lives of women, saying they were often the "silent victims" of the small arms trade.
The activists noted there were an estimated 650 million guns in circulation around the world - almost all in the hands of men.
"Given that they are almost never the buyers, owners or users of small arms, (women) suffer disproportionately from armed violence," said Denise Searle of Amnesty International, one of the groups releasing the report.
Gun control campaigners hoped the report would give fresh impetus to moves to impose more regulation on the world trade in small arms, although they noted progress to date has been slow.
A 2001 UN action programme on the trade has yielded few results, but campaigners hope a review meeting in 2006 will push improvements such as a world arms trade registry, written arms shipment permits and better policing.
Statistics world-wide indicate young men are the main victims of small arms, whether used in disputes, in conflict zones or in criminal activity including gang violence.
But the report issued ahead of International Women's Day on Tuesday showed women too are paying a price, often in their own homes as a result of domestic violence.
"Where guns are available, more women are likely to be killed," Searle said.
South Africa, famous for high crime rates, sees a woman shot dead by a current or former partner every 18 hours, according to statistics from the state-funded Medical Research Council.
US studies have shown that having a gun in the house increases the risk that someone in the house will be murdered by 41 percent, but boosts the risk for women by 272 percent.
Some countries such as Canada and Australia have managed to bring down the murder rate of women by toughening laws on gun licensing. But the problem is growing in the developing world, where such safeguards are harder to implement. From Africa to Afghanistan, civil strife, insurgencies and cross-border wars have increased the threat of gun violence against women, putting huge quantities of guns into circulation in countries as social norms and legal frameworks collapse.
"Once small arms are brought into a country, they post a continuous risk," said Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, a conflict adviser for Eastern and Central Africa with British-based aid agency Oxfam which also sponsored the report.
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