In 1999 hebben de Verenigde Naties in een rapport vastgelegd wat kleine (en hieraan verwante lichte) wapens zijn.

24. Small arms and light weapons range from clubs, knives and machetes to those weapons just below those covered by the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, for example, mortars below the calibre of 100 mm. The small arms and light weapons which are of main concern for the purposes of the present report are those which are manufactured to military specifications for use as lethal instruments of war.

25. Small arms and light weapons are used by all armed forces, including internal security forces, for, inter alia, self-protection or self-defence, close or short-range combat, direct or indirect fire, and against tanks or aircraft at relatively short distances. Broadly speaking, small arms are those weapons designed for personal use, and light weapons are those designed for use by several persons serving as a crew.

26. Based on this broad definition and on an assessment of weapons actually used in conflicts being dealt with by the United Nations, the weapons addressed in the present report are categorized as follows:

1. Small arms:
   1. Revolvers and self-loading pistols;
   2. Rifles and carbines;
   3. Sub-machine-guns;
   4. Assault rifles;
   5. Light machine-guns;
2. Light weapons:
   1. Heavy machine-guns;
   2. Hand-held under-barrel and mounted grenade launchers;
   3. Portable anti-aircraft guns;
   4. Portable anti-tank guns, recoilless rifles;
   5. Portable launchers of anti-tank missile and rocket systems;
   6. Portable launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems;
   7. Mortars of calibres of less than 100 mm;
3. Ammunition and explosives:
   1. Cartridges (rounds) for small arms;
   2. Shells and missiles for light weapons;
   3. Mobile containers with missiles or shells for single-action anti-aircraft and anti-tank systems;
   4. Anti-personnel and anti-tank hand grenades;
   5. Landmines;
   6. Explosives.