Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations

On 15th June 2010 PGA, together with the Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons, held a Workshop on Halting the Trafficking in Drugs, Arms and Human Beings at the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations.

The Workshop took place during the week, and against the backdrop of, the 4th Biennial Meeting of States at the UN on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons.

The object of the Workshop was to allow for consideration and deliberation among the Participants on the numerous linkages and connections between these three transnational crimes with a view to identifying possible steps/measures that MPs could take in this area.

Participants included Legislators from Latin America, Asia Pacific, Africa and Europe, the UN Special Representative on Disarmament Affairs, Representatives from IANSA, other civil society members and additional experts in the field.

Presentations made focused on the different challenges posed in different regions, some of them unique to those respective regions.

A number of concrete steps to be taken by Legislators were identified by one participant, including:

1. Follow up with respective Foreign Ministries to inquire about ratification, implementation and enforcement of relevant international and regional treaties and conventions by your country.
2. Examine/Review existing domestic/national legislation on trafficking in these three areas with a view to identifying gaps that need to be addressed, draft new or revised legislation and seek its adoption accordingly.
3. Encourage, both in Parliament (relevant parliamentary committees) and within the Executive Branch of Power, the setting up of a special National Task Force, consisting of MPs, senior relevant government officials and academics/experts in the field, which can examine the challenges and threats posed by all three crimes with a view to devising/coming up with strategies that address all three in unison. Given the trans-regional nature of these crimes, a similar, regional or trans-regional organization task force could also be established and similarly constituted.
4. Meet with representatives of the defense, justice and security sector in your respective countries to make them aware that the proceeds from trafficking of guns, drugs and human beings also are used to fund terrorist activities so that these sectors also throw their support more fully behind efforts to counter trafficking in arms, drugs and human beings, to the extent they have not done so already.