African civil society organisations on Friday made a commitment to challenge Governments to make inputs into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) process so that the world can develop peacefully.
The civil society groups from Central, Northern and West Africa in a communiqué issued in Lome, Togo, after
a regional workshop on arms treaty and made available to the Ghana News Agency in Accra called for international regulations to effectively control conventional weapons in the world.
The communiqué also tasked African governments to speak in more details on the feasibility, parameters and scope of an ATT, while ECOWAS Member States were charged to ratify the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons.
The Lome workshop on the theme: "Supporting an Arms Trade Treaty," was jointly organised by the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC), the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and the West African Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA).
It seeks to prepare civil society groups to make inputs to the regional governmental workshop on an ATT to be held in Dakar, Senegal, next week and also create a platform for participants to share best practices and skills in lobbying and campaigning.
According to the communiqué the ECOWAS Convention will impact positively on the ATT process as the 12 Golden Principles underlying the ATT are already adopted and articulated in the ECOWAS Convention.
"It is therefore important that all West African States ratify the said Convention before the second session of the Open-Ended Working Group meeting in July 2009," the communiqué stated.
The Lome workshop also tasked National Networks
and Coalitions of WAANSA, including the West Africa Network of Journalists for Security and Development to increase their lobbying and campaigning toward the ratification of the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and the Arms Trade Treaty currently being discussed by the
UN Open-Ended Working Group.
The Lome workshop additionally appealed to the International Community to continue to support the efforts of civil society in the fight against the proliferation of small arms.
In addition, the workshop analysed the UN Charter as well as the submission and comments made by some ECOWAS Member States, Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tunisia to the UN Secretary-General.
According to the communiqué the workshop discussed the ATT process, why the world needs an ATT and the benefits thereof to Africa, the UN and the ATT process and the role of civil society in the scheme of things.
The participants were also exposed to how international law applies to international arms transfers, including the UN Charter, human rights law, international humanitarian law and socio-economic development.
Arms campaigning in Africa used the WAANSA experience in terms of successes, challenges and vision for the future.
Participants were encouraged to actively participate in the global Week of Action from June 15-21, 2009 and to give visibility to civil society. In this regard, Governments of Central Africa are encouraged to give support to civil society endeavours accordingly.
Participants were from Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, DRC, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tunisia and Togo.