29-30 May, 2013 | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Introduction

Hosted by the Tanzanian Parliament, Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) organized from 29-30 May 2013 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania at the Parliament Office (Mkwawa Hall) a Regional Parliamentary Workshop on “The Arms Trade Treaty- The Role of Parliamentarians.”

The workshop brought together 30 participants, mostly Members of Parliament from the following African States: Burundi, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Other participants included Ambassadors and Embassy staff from Norway, the USA and Finland, representatives from the United Nations Peace and Security Program UNREC, and the European Delegations. A full list of the participants may be viewed here.

The purpose of the Workshop was to raise awareness and discussions regarding the signature, ratification of the Arms Trade Treaty in Africa as well as promoting different parliamentarian strategies to ratify and implement a robust Arms Trade Treaty.

At the conclusion of the workshop, Members of Parliament adopted the Dar Es Salaam Plan of Action in French and in English, which contains a numbers of practical steps that Members of Parliament participating at the Workshop can now take in their countries and parliaments to promote a signature, ratification and implementation of the UN Program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons and support for an Arms Trade Treaty. The Plan of Action may be viewed here.

The Workshop was made possible by a grant from the Government of Finland and the kind support and cooperation of the Tanzanian National Assembly.

The below report provides an overview of the presentations and discussions from the three panels as well as the technical/legal session. The first day of the workshop focused on discussing the situation of the Arms Trade in the countries of the members of parliament and the initiatives they took to promote a signature, ratification and implementation of laws of the ATT. The second day included a technical and legal briefing on the ATT and the drafting and adoption of a plan of action.

Day 1: Wednesday, 29 May 2013-06-04

Opening Ceremony and Introductory Remarks

On behalf of the Honorable Job Yustino Ndugai MP, Deputy Speaker of National Assembly of Tanzania, the Honorable Nassir Y. Abdallah MP (Tanzania) gave special opening remarks. These remarks were followed by the Honorable Lamine M. Thiam MP (Senegal), Member of ECOWAS Parliament, Convenor of PGA’s Peae and Democracy Program, and by Her Excellency Ms. Sinikka Antila, Ambassador of Finland to Tanzania, who made some introductory remarks.

The Honorable Nassir Y. Abdallah MP, on behalf of the Honorable Job Yustino Ndugai MP, Deputy Speaker of National Assembly of Tanzania, extended a warm welcome to all of the participants. Noting the overwhelming majority that adopted the Arms Trade Treaty at the United Nations on April 2nd 2013, he stated that this marks a turning point in Africa. Indeed, many MPs present at the workshop know from first hand experience the terrible consequences of the illegal trade of small arms and light weapons such as the loss of human lives and injuries. The timing of this workshop, he commented, could not be better as the Arms Trade Treaty would open for signature in the United Nations’ headquarters in New York on June 3rd, four days after the workshop. He ended his opening remarks emphasizing the unique prerogative of Members of Parliaments to draft laws, define them and pass them: it is the parliamentarians’ responsibility and role to promote and support a signature, ratification and implementation of the ATT for their respective countries. He claimed, “we need as many African countries as possible to get involved.”

Following these opening remarks, The Honorable Lamine M. Thiam from Senegal, Member of ECOWAS Parliament, Convenor of PGA’s International Peace and Security Program, started out by providing his sincere thanks to the Tanzanian Parliament and the government of Finland for hosting this Workshop on behalf of PGA. As advocates and lawmakers, Members of Parliament have and essential role to play in addressing the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. PGA members have been active in promoting domestic firearms legislation, facilitating the process of ratification of regional conventions, enhancing conformity of their nation legislation, facilitating the process of ratification of regional conventions, enhancing conformity of their national legislation with the UN Program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons as well as advocating strongly for the ATT in many countries around the world. Over 2, 100 Members of Parliament from 114 countries for instance, have signed the Control Arms Global Parliamentary Declaration on the Arms Trade Treaty, emphasizing their commitment to an ATT.

Mr. Thiam said he looked forward to developing the Plan of Action during the workshop, highlighting that the Plan of Action is only useful if it is implemented. He explained, “in the Plan of Action that we adopt here, we must therefore make sure that we highlight what we, as Parliamentarians, believe is essential to be steps taken to promote and support a signature, ratification and implementation of the ATT in our respective countries. This treaty will have a real impact and save many of the lives of the people we represent and around the world,” he continues, “it is crucial that we do our best to support it.”

Finally, Her Excellency Ms. Sinikka Antila, Ambassador of Finland to Tanzania began by re-iterating Finland’s strong support of the Arms Trade Treaty. She expressed her concern with the importance and necessity to control easily transferable arms on an international and local level. Like the Honorable Abdallah, she stressed how successful the United Nation adoption of the ATT was six weeks preceding the workshop and how important it is to repeat such success at the opening for signature and ratification on June 3rd. She ended her remarks by noting the essential role of the ATT in addressing human rights violation caused by illegal arms trade in the world.

Panel 1: Signature, Ratification and Implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty:  African Parliamentary Perspectives

Moderated by the Honorable Nassir Y. Abdallah MP Tanzania, the first panel included four speakers: the Senator David Musila, MP Kenya, the Honorable Mamadou Thiam, MP Mali, the Honorable Reverend Christopher Ngwira, MP Malawi, the Honorable Anna Abdallah, MP Tanzania, Chair of Defence and Security Committee. After providing a short summary of their presentations, the report will highlight some of the main points raised during the discussion period.

In his presentation, the Senator David Musila from Kenya congratulated Parliamentarians for Global Action for the role they played in the Arms Trade Treaty. Like many other countries in Africa, Kenya has a history that includes a lot of suffering due to illegal arms trafficking. Moreover, he noted that Kenya is surrounded by countries in civil wars (e.g. South Sudan) and as a result it is more susceptible to illegal arms trade. In the same way, Somalia, Kenya’s Eastern neighbour, because of a lack of governance, has been overflowing freely with small arms and light weapons, hence compromising its security as well as that of its neighbours. These examples only serve to show how much Africa needs an Arms Trade Treaty to be signed, ratified and established at the highest conventional matters. Furthermore, it does not suffice to sign the ATT, Mr. Musila stressed, parliamentarians should also ensure that there are ratifications that take place to make the treaty a reality. Finally, the Senator reminded his audience that since African countries are usually recipients to the arms, it is important to also get the providers of the arms to also sign the ATT.

The Honorable Mamadou Thiam from Mali began his presentation by giving an account of the history of the war in Mali. He explained that Mali fully supports and needs an Arms Trade Treaty and has been in contact with the United Nations throughout the process. Already, Mali has a law regulating the activities of arms, for instance, all arms artisans must have a license. Nonetheless, due to its agriculture industry, Mr. Thiam explained, Mali is at risk of arms conflicts at its borders.  Because Mali is a victim of arms trafficking, it is therefore important for his parliament to raise awareness of the ATT and welcome it in Mali. He claimed that Mali should and must be the first to sign the ATT and actions must be taken by the African Union.

The Honorable Reverend Christopher Ngwira from Malawi framed the ATT as “an answer from God himself.” He recounted that when news got to Malawi that it had been adopted at the United Nations’ headquarters, the parliament celebrated.     He then gave a short history of illegal arms trafficking in Malawi with specific examples. For instance, in 1994, when Malawi first adopted a democracy, the government brought arms illegally that are now nowhere to be seen. Malawi now seeks to find the adequate methodology to recuperate and monitor the traffic of illegal arms. Moreover, Reverend Ngwira underscored that the issue was not merely illegal trafficking within Malawi but also at its borders. Hence, signing and ratifying the ATT would help address and solve these problems, he said. Honorable Ngwira explained that in order to push his parliament to take action, he met with organizations that worked on the ATT, he met twice with the ministry of defense and home affairs that locates and destroys illegal arms in Malawi, and he also met with civil society. He expressed his wish that Malawi would be amongst the first to sign the ATT. He ended his presentation with the statement that as politicians, parliamentarians are defenders of this treaty and must support and follow the ATT.

Lastly, the Honorable Anna Abdallah from Tanzania, the chair of the Defense Committee, gave a presentation. She began by apologizing for the absence of some Tanzanian Members of Parliament as a result of the Parliament in session. She congratulated PGA for putting in place such a relevant workshop and encouraged all the parliamentarians to immediately take action after the workshop. For instance, she already scheduled a meeting with the Minister of Home affairs so that committees can work together to make sure there is a signature of the ATT before the end of Parliament sessions. Following this signature, the Parliament will have to work on ratification the ATT, because “without ratification; the signature would be a waste of time.” It is the Parliament’s duty to put in place legislations to control illegal arms trafficking since by virtue of being illegal, such trade must be eliminated. There are all the reasons in the world to work to promote and support the Arms Trade Treaty and parliamentarians should be the first to take part in this process.

Following the presentations, a couple of participants stated the importance to work together and beyond borders to ensure that the Arms Trade Treaty is implemented all across Africa. Notably, Honorable Bernadette Lahai from Sierra Leone said, “we are not here for the sake of accidents: it is because we have chosen life against unnecessary death.” Several participants also highlighted the importance of domestication after the signature and ratification of the Arms Trade Treaty, i.e. implementing national legislations to conform to the Treaty. The three stages are all necessary and work as a whole to make the ATT a reality.


Panel 2: Signature, Ratification and Implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty:  African Parliamentary Perspectives (continued)

Moderated by the Honorable Nassir Y. Abdallah MP Tanzania, the first panel included five speakers:  the Honorable Laurent Ngbon-Baba, MP Central African Republic, the Honorable Alaso Alice Asianut, MP Uganda) the Honorable Alban Bagbin, MP Ghana, the Honorable Jessie Majome, MP Zimbabwe, and the Honorable Dr. Jean Minani, MP Burundi. After providing a short summary of their presentations, the report will highlight some of the main points raised during the discussion period.

The Honorable Laurent Ngbon-Baba from Central African Republic began the second panel by reminding his colleagues that he is in a parliament in transition and that Central African Republic and its neighbors have greatly suffered from illegal arms trafficking by mutineers and rebellion movements. Since the last governmental change in March 2013, he continued, the worry of putting in place peace and security in his country has been omnipresent and the parliamentarians represent an eclectic population divided between the actors and the victims of the illegal arms trade.  Although the signature is the executive government’s responsibility, he commented, it is the role of the parliament to make sure there is a ratification of this treaty. For example in Central African Republic, the parliament is pressuring the government to sign the ATT but is also working on legislative methodologies to put in place on a national level. And, parliamentary workshops such as PGA’s workshop in Tanzania are essential for members of parliaments as they give the opportunity to find focus points in order to guarantee a signature and ratification of the ATT. Honorable Ngon-baba ended his presentation by noting that ratifications that address human rights issues would be crucial in the ATT since a large amount of suffering has resulted from illegal arms trafficking.

Focusing more on a specific region in Uganda, the Honorable Alaso Alice Asianut discussed the importance of the role of the ATT to control regions near the frontiers of countries. She stated, “geography is highly linked to issues related to the Arms Trade Treaty.” For instance Karamoja, a territory in Uganda that boarders Kenya and South Sudan, is a region of illegal movements of human beings and arms as a result of its geography. Though Uganda is doing ongoing work for resettlements to take place in this region, parliamentarians must also work on implementing legislations to control illegal arms trade. She referred to the PGA workshop in Namibia that took place in March 2013, which adopted a plan of action that served as a role model in the defense committee. According to her, the Parliament of Uganda would benefit, however, from further education on the ATT in order to improve legislations that regulate arms trade. She explained that the building block are in place to make such steps towards a better promotion of the Arms Trade Treaty, but too many parliamentarians are not informed and aware enough on the ATT.  As a result, her biggest worries, she explained, are not the signature and ratification of the ATT but rather the implementation of the domestication and execution of the texts of the ATT.

Likewise, the Honorable Bagbin from Ghana, expressed his concern that the implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty on a local level will be a challenge to the African countries. He noted that since 1890 the world has thought of putting in place a comprehensive law to regulate arms trade on an international level but to this day the Arms Trade Treaty still has to undergo several steps before it is entirely set in motion. “We have to maintain the momentum. We have to continue to get our laws passed,” he stated.  For him, one necessary step for the parliamentarians to take is to involve colleagues in the civil society, the industry and in the private sector to promote the signature, ratification and implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty: this involves a great amount of “awareness creation.” Ultimately, the parliamentarians should strive to incorporate the Arms Trade Treaty legislations in the culture of their people. For this, the parliamentarians must involve the media as much as possible and mobilize the support of societal organizations in order to reach out to the masses. In other words, Honorable Bagbin concludes, signing and ratifying the ATT are only two of many steps to accept and incorporate relevant laws to the ATT in African countries.

In the same way the Honorable Bagbin examined different ways to approach the ATT, the Honorable Jessie Majome from Zimbabwe focused on the importance of human rights in the treaty. She began by noting that Zimbabwe had originally abstained in 2006 from accepting an ATT but as of May 2013, Zimbabwe had adopted a brand new constitution that promoted values including: peace, stability and pacifism in resolving disputes internally and externally. In sum, Zimbabwe now recognizes the absolute importance in signing the ATT and making it a reality. Moreover, the history of Zimbabwe with illegal arms trafficking has greatly affected gender-based violence such that women have been greatly affected by the absence of control of this type of trade. To encourage and raise awareness amongst parliamentarians on the ATT, Honorable Majome has been very active on media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, and continues to update statuses on legislations and initiatives the parliament works on to promote the ATT.

Lastly, in his presentation, the Honorable Doctor Jean Minani from Burundi discussed the history of the arms trade in a country that has been amongst in some of the longest wars in Africa. In each war Burundi has undergone, Dr. Minani noted, populations have found ways to arm themselves. He gave the example of employing guns usually used for hunting as a mean of protection. And, after 2005, it became extremely difficult to take back these weapons that were illegally circulating within the population. However, Burundi has been taking initiatives and implementing laws to eliminate or recuperate these arms. For example, requiring individuals to enter the army with their own weapons or paying citizens with material to build houses in exchange for their guns. He claimed that with these types of initiatives, more than 95% of such arms in Burundi have been integrated in the government and that the parliament continues to put in place legislations to recuperate these illegally possessed weapons. Finally, Dr. Minani emphasized the importance of calling on the Pan-African Parliament for communication and to make legislations all the more efficient.

During the discussion period, several members of parliament highlighted the challenges of implementing laws to support the ATT. They claimed that while signature and ratification were feasible, the implementation of legislation would be the biggest obstacle to overcome. However, Peter Barcroft, Director of Projects of PGA, reiterated the importance of UN regional offices of Peace and Disarmaments and Non-Governmental Organizations such as PGA that exist as resources to support parliamentarians to draft, define and put in place legislations on the ATT.

For other parliamentarians, the ratification of the ATT was not as obvious. The Honorable Dély from Côte d’Ivoire, for instance, stated “let us worry about ratifying the Arms Trade Treaty before its domestication: this is not a given either.” To this, other parliamentarians agreed with this main concern as they stressed the importance in a speedy ratification of the ATT by preparing in advance drafts of laws to regulate the ATT as well as severe punishments for illegal trafficking. Finally, a couple of parliamentarians discussed the issue of getting the providers of illegal arms trade to sign and ratify the Treaty, without which the ATT would have less weight. It is crucial that African parliaments work to sign, ratify and implement legislation on the one hand, and promote the ATT worldwide, especially to provider countries, on the other hand.

Panel 3: Signature, Ratification and Implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty:  African Parliamentary Perspectives (continued)

Moderated by the Honorable Nassir Y. Abdallah MP Tanzania, the first panel included five speakers: the Honorable Bernadette Lahai, MP Sierra Leone, the Honorable Mamadou Dély, MP Côte d’Ivoire, the Honorable Aminetou mint Maouloud , MP Mauritania, Brigadier General Venance Mabeyo, Ministry of Defence of Tanzania, and Senior Superintendent of the Police Charles Ulaya, Ministry of Home Affairs of Tanzania. After providing a short summary of their presentations, the report will highlight some of the main points raised during the discussion period.

In her presentation, the Honorable Doctor Bernadette Lahai from Sierra Leone thanked PGA for the workshop and the opportunity to present on the ATT with the perspective of a parliamentarian that got the opportunity to go to New York for the ATT. She explained that since Sierra Leone has come out of wars it has taken many initiatives such as disposing of small arms and light weapons or upholding a very good collaboration with Interpol. However, she noted, is not “arms free” and a stronger presence and participation of parliamentarian in the ATT would strengthen the negotiation process of the ATT. In order to achieve this, Honorable Lahai stressed that parliament must address the lack of knowledge on the ATT which in turn would necessarily affect the quality of advocacy.  She elaborated; if parliamentarians are less knowledgeable on the ATT, they are not in a position to lobby for legislations and thus there are no possibilities to negotiate. Therefore to implement legislations on a national level, moving forward, there is a need to better equip the parliamentarians to understand issues on small arms and light weapons. This ultimately will allow the parliamentarians to talk to their respective governments and encourage a signature of the ATT before implementing their laws. And as Dr. Minani pointed out, Dr. Lahai stressed the importance that the Pan-African parliament takes the lead to implement the ATT on a continental level. Honorable Dr. Lahai ended her presentation with one of her countries’ saying:  “put the bottom lock first before you put the top lock:” ratification first, implementation second.

Honorable Aminetou mint Maouloud from Mauritania began her presentation by thanking PGA for inviting her second regional parliamentarian workshop on the ATT. She claimed that Mauritania supports the ATT and parliament will promote a signature through various methods: rigorous and hard work on drafting legislation on a national level, further education of parliamentarians and administrative partners on the ATT to better work on implementing these laws. More importantly, she discussed the importance the treaties be put the treaties in place (not merely discussed) and that the laws drafted for the ATT be part of local cultures. Finally, she insisted that these laws be such that they could evolve and adapt to their environment in specific regions.

Unlike many of the preceding countries presenting, Côte d’Ivoire had a history that is usually considered relatively stable, argued the Honorable Mamadou Dély. But since 1999, it has undergone geopolitical difficulties. The frontiers of the country are bound by armed conflicts and arms trafficking went from bad to worst. It is vital that these illegal trades must change within the CEDAO. To address issues from the parliamentarian perspective, Honorable Dély has been in contact with the government to give more information on the ATT and educate the parliament on the issues it raises by distributing copies of the ATT and bringing them to relevant committees to the ATT. And like several parliamentarians before him, Honorable Dély discussed the importance of raising awareness within the community as well on the ATT. In addition, the regional office of the united nations for peace and security is in the process of finalizing a contract to put in place a programme to support and reinforce the ATT by monitoring the arms’ supply in the Côte d’Ivoire Police force and conducting a study on private security in Côte d’Ivoire. Furthermore, Honorable Dély also wrote publications in the media to discuss the ATT in Côte d’Ivoire and the importance of the PGA workshops. Lastly, he mentioned his monthly lunches with the ONUSI that organizes conferences on systems of security and peace in Africa in which he presents and debates on the ATT. Honorable Dély noted that he wished to share his methods and initiatives to promote and support the Arms Trades Treaty with other members of parliaments and with PGA, which he emphasized was very important to do for more efficient work and better reporting on parliamentarian actions to promote the ATT.

The day ended with a presentation of Brigadier General Venance Mabeyo of the Ministry of Defense and Senior Superintendent of the Police Charles Ulaya, both from Tanzania. They began by emphasizing the importance of the ATT in the context of peace, stability and development. They noted, compromises are essential and necessary in negotiations of the ATT. “The trick is give and take,” Brigadier General Mabeyo said. Moreover, Senior Superintendent of the Police Ulaya explained that it is important that the legislative branch takes action to quickly draft laws on ATT such as controlling importations and exportations of small arms and light weapons. He then mentioned that the police of Tanzania has worked on this with Interpol and on an international level it has also conducted joint operations and law enforcement operations to promote efforts on the ATT.

Day 2: Thursday, 30 May 2013

Technical/Legal Session – the Arms Trade Treaty

Mr. Leonardo J. Lara, Deputy Director of and based in Togo began the day by explaining the work he did for UNREC. The goal of his organization is to increase knowledge on the ATT for African country (e.g. July 2012 and March 2013) with the support of other countries, to name a few, Germany, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden. He further reminded the workshop that only five African countries abstained from voting on the adoption of the ATT in April 2013.  However, it is important that the parliamentarians take the necessary steps to ratify the ATT after June 3rd.  Mr. Lara further explained that UNREC has worked in the past with organizations and assisted and provided practical support in implementation of laws on the ATT. It even developed a web state platform with open discussions on how the ATT affects regions of Africa. He ended his presentation encouraging the parliamentarians to continue supporting the ATT.

In response to parliamentarians’ concern on educating peers on the ATT and in anticipation of the plan of action, Mr. Peter Barcroft, Director of Projects of PGA, gave a technical legal briefing on the ATT to review in general each articles. He selected paragraphs that could use clarifications and considerations that arose in the process of drafting the ATT. For example, he explained that one of the biggest challenges in the ATT was to regulate trade in conventional arms in a way that avoided loss of human rights and injuries. The legal briefing helped to elucidate parliamentarians’ confusion in particular sections of the ATT and prepared the members of parliaments for a discussion on the plan of action.

Discussion, Review and Adoption of the Dar Es Salaam Plan of Action

Prior to the discussion, 3 Members of Parliament along with a couple PGA staff prepared a discussion draft of the Plan of Action based on comments expressed during the Workshop. This draft Plan of Action was presented to all the participating Members of Parliament in both French and in English. During the discussion on the draft, several items were amended. Members of Parliament also agreed to add two new items. The Dar Es Salaam Plan of Action in French may be viewed here and in English here.

Further information on PGA's Peace & Democracy Program may be viewed here and/or by contacting Peter Barcroft, Director of Projects, PGA at peter.barcroft@pgaction.org or Monica Adame, Program Officer, PGA at monica.adame@pgaction.org

This report was prepared and written by Raphaëlle Debenedetti, PGA.