中国军控与裁军协会

Expert Working Group on conventional arms welcomes Arms Trade Treaty (18/04/2013)

Time:2013-07-08 18:02Source:未知 Author:Saferworld Click:

 

 

 

18 April 2013 - Policy experts from Africa, China and the EU agreed to remain fully engaged in the next crucial steps to ratify and implement the Arms Trade Treaty at the second Saferworld-hosted meeting of the Africa-China-EU Expert Working Group (EWG) on Conventional Arms.

 

At the 9th April meeting in Kampala the group of high-level non-proliferation experts strongly welcomed the recent adoption of the ATT at the UN General Assembly and discussed ways to tackle the illicit trade and excessive accumulation of small arms and light weapons. The EWG was established to promote dialogue and common approaches to tackle arms issues.

 

In order to better understand the main issues and challenges related to illicit weapons and ammunition in Uganda, the EWG members had in-depth consultations with a number of key Ugandan stakeholders on 10 April. Officials and representatives from the National Focal Point on SALW, the Police Force, the Uganda People’s Defence Force and civil society organisations shared their assessment and their experiences of the small arms problem in Uganda and their perspectives on how Uganda can cooperate with external actors, such as the EU and China, in preventing the illegal trade and excessive accumulation of SALW. The EWG members and its Ugandan interlocutors saw the need to continue consultations of this kind as part of a long term dialogue process that will allow them to unpack and detail specific needs and requests for assistance.

 

A number of advocacy, consultations and field research activities aimed at identifying opportunities for EU-China cooperation to support African states in preventing the illegal trade in and excessive accumulation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) were agreed for the coming months.

 

The EWG will meet again in Beijing in May. It will then undertake a field research visit in South Sudan in June and will organise a regional conference on SALW in Nairobi in July.

 

 

(Editor:军控协会)
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