UN arms Libyan women with gun-safety knowledge
Women are inordinately affected by gun violence in Libya, but UN officials hope to train them not only in firearm safety, but also to use their matriarchal positions to influence their families.
For every Libyan citizen, there are two or more guns circulating within the oil-rich North African country’s border, based on a consensus of estimates.
“Since 2011, everybody carries weapons — even 10-year-old children,” said a Tobruk parliamentarian on the condition of anonymity.
Not only has the flow of arms become a lucrative and flourishing business, it is also the source of a large number of accidents, often within households. The parliamentarian is one of 12 women participating in the first round of a training program designed to increase awareness about firearm danger.
“There was a 10-year-old girl who accidentally killed her mother,” Asma, a woman from Benghazi who is participating in the program, recalled.
