African civil society priorities By

NOUNOU BOOTO MEETI

IANSA Africa programme Officer Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

22nd May 2012

IANSA:

The global movement against gun violence

– securing stronger regulation on guns in society

– strengthening controls on arms exports

– representing the voices of civil society on the

international stage

The IANSA network

• 800 members in more than 120 countries

• Supporters and contacts

• National, Regional and Thematic networks

IANSA IN AFRICA

49% of IANSA membership is in Africa

IANSA regional Networks in 5 sub regions:

- West African Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA)

- Central African Action Network on Small Arms (CAANSA)

- East African Action Network on Small Arms (EAANSA)

- MENAANSA, Midle East and North Africa Action Network on Small Arms

- HUMANET, Southern Africa Network

• Operational in English, French and Spanish.

• Introducing Portuguese, Arabic and Swahili

• Official designated coordinator for civil society participation at the UN process of small arms control

• Signed Memorandum of understanding with UN Office for Disarmament Affairs

IANSA and ATT Campaign

• 2003: IANSA, Amnesty International and Oxfam launched

Control Arms Campaign in 70 countries calling for the

adoption of an International armes trade treaty. This was

support by Camboge, Costa Rica and Mali.

June 2006 Million Faces. A petition

gathering one million of photographs of

people from around the world asking for

a treaty on arms trade was given to the

United Nations Secretary General Kofi

Annan. The petition was signed by

People from over 160 countries

“The world’s largest photo petition”

Success at the UN

UNSG consult States on viability, scope and parameters of a traity in 2007. And People’s consultations on ATT by civile society

Police consultations in Thailand A march in South Africa

Pop concert, Paraguay

African civil society priorities

Scope

- The ATT must cover a broad scope of

armaments including small arms and light

Weapons and ammunitions

- The ATT must cover all type of transfers (a wide

scope), not just export and import.

Parameters

The ATT must be based on existing international

law, including international human rights law

and international humanitarian law (IHL).

The ATT must oblige states to consider how arms

would affect the development of a state.

Implementation

All members are signatories to Treaty, ratify and later

domesticate

July Negotiation

We supporting the current Draft common position and

we would like to see African member states going to

negotiation with a leadership politics. Africa need to

go wit a clear strategy to the conference

Member states to be vocal

Way forward

- The chairman non paper should the basis for

Negotiation

- African member states need to understand the

procedural rules of the negotiation

- member states should support civil society

participation in the conference

IANSA campaign continues

• 11-17 June 2012: Global Week of Action against Gun Violence

- An annual event that highlights the international campaign to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms.

- To raise awareness, campaign for better gun laws and push for stronger regulation of the global arms trade.

- Public events, conduct media work, and generally engage more people in the global movement against gun violence.

- Civil society organisations involved in the

global week of Action, will emphasise the

importance of an Arms Trade Treaty, they

will publicise the UN small arms process,

promote the implementation of the UN

Firearms Protocol, and support policies

linking armed violence and development,

among other activities.

Conclusion

• The ATT can make a difference if it is

strong and legally binding

Thank you

Nounou Booto Meeti

Nounou.booto@iansa.org

www.iansa.org