Control Arms in 2008

2008 is a crucially important year for Control Arms. In February, experts from 28 countries will hold the first of three meetings this year to discuss the scope, feasibility and parameters of the future treaty – essentially, what it should contain.

The report that they produce in October will have implications for the hundreds of thousands of people all around the world who are affected by armed violence. Although the meetings take place behind closed doors, Control Arms campaigners will be keeping the pressure on to make sure that governments deliver a treaty that will make people genuinely safer from armed violence.

A month of campaigning and a UN record broken

The Control Arms team has returned from the United Nations, after a month of hard campaigning, tired but happy at the unprecedented show of support from states for a tough Arms Trade Treaty.

 Almost a year after the historic vote for an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), we were there to keep the pressure on. And to make sure that governments incorporated the views of the millions of people around the world who are affected by armed violence every day. To that end the Control Arms Campaign organised “People’s Consultations” all over the world, to run alongside government’s official consultations. The People’s Consultations and stories from the suvivors of armed violence had real impact. More than 100 governments have now sent in their views on what should be in an ATT; over 10 times the normal amount the UN would normally receive and setting – a record reponse rate for the UN. 

We also brought together the slightly unlikely sounding combination of a war journalist, 3 retired military leaders from around the world and UN ambassadors (and a mountain of sandwiches to help fuel the debate) to discuss the Arms Trade Treaty in our event, ‘From The Front Line’.

 And the next step? As we move into 2008, the Control Arms team will continue to push until the treaty becomes a reality for the millions of people around the world who are affected by armed violence. Watch this space.

A big pile of sandwiches and a moment of realising we’re making a difference…

Anna Macdonald, Head of Control Arms, Oxfam International

Yesterday Control Arms and the 7 lead governments on the ATT (the coauthors of last year’s ATT resolution), Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Kenya and the UK, held a joint lunch meeting Next Steps Toward an Effective ATT. We discussed the next stage in making an ATT happen with the 40 odd other states who came along.

 

The campaign has been so hectic recently, and we have been working so intensely in our work at the UN, that there is rarely time to actually sit back and reflect on what has been achieved so far.

 

Yesterday as I sat in a packed conference room, on the panel with the coauthors, and listened to the Ambassadors one by one stress the importance of the ATT, of keeping up the momentum, of ensuring a strong link to human rights and international humanitarian law, and of ensuring the process remains open and inclusive, I thought back to when we launched the campaign just over 4 years ago. Then we had 3 governments who had publicly stated their support for an ATT. Since then the campaign has grown and grown, and now we have 153 governments in support, and regular events where we work alongside states to discuss the gradually developing ATT.

 

When you’re a campaigner, its difficult sometimes to see directly the results of what you work so hard to achieve. Those of us who have been at the UN this year have been lucky to really see that. We know that the People’s Consultations had real impact – over 100 governments have now sent in their views on what should be in an ATT, over 10 times the response rate the UN would normally receive.

 

We need an ATT in the world – and this year at the UN we have seen military leaders, war correspondents, armed violence survivors, an African President, and many governments share that call.

Sometimes you sit in the UN and listen to the endless speeches and discussions and wonder whether anything ever happens. And sometimes you have a moment when you think, actually things are moving here, and we’ve helped to make it happen.

 

Yesterday was one of those days – please keep on campaigning, what you do can and does make a real difference!

The Peoples’ Consultation

My name is Vavine Gabi and I have flown thousands of miles from my country to tell UN delegates about my experience of armed violence. My mother was shot dead in front of me eight years ago, just after my sixteenth birthday. She has been in my thoughts every day since then, but i felt her presence particularly strongly yesterday, as I prepared to give a speech to urge states to push for a strong ATT.The event I spoke at was organized by Control Arms to highlight the achievements of the People’s Consultation. I spoke with two other survivors of armed violence – Widad Akrawi from Iraq and Nancy Claude from Haiti.It’s not easy talking about the worst thing that has ever happened to you. But I wanted the States to know about the effect my mother’s death has had on our lives. I had practiced my speech for days – but my stomach was a bag of butterflies. I placed a photo of my mum in front of me to keep me strong and focused.I come from Papua New Guinea – a country with one of the highest rates of armed violence in the world. I told the delegates and journalists how we had been driving down the highway to visit our village when a car blocked our way. Six men climbed out and ambushed us, robbing us of all we had. When they asked for more, my mother simply said that they had taken everything. With that, one of the men put a gun to her head and shot her at close range. She died two days later. I wanted the ambassadors and journalists there to know that there was a lot of blood. I wanted to them to know how I felt when I saw her body wheeled in. And I wanted them to know that even today, it is painful for me and my brothers and sisters to see our aunties with their children.

It was hard to hear the other women’s testimonies. Widad’s best friend had been shot dead for her political views; Nancy was shot in the leg and her daughter was kidnapped at gunpoint.

But I felt great sense of achievement after my speech. I had to make sure that I delivered my speech effectively  – and without crying! I had to be strong. I wanted to make my voice heard – both as a survivor of gun violence, and as an activist against uncontrolled arms.

Parliamentarians from around the world support an ATT

By Sauro Scarpelli, Control Arms Campaigner.

Today we hosted the penultimate event this year in New York for the Control Arms campaign: ” The role of parliamentarians in supporting an ATT”.  In the past year the campaign has done lots of work with MPs they have a crucial role in the promotion, adoption and implementation of a future global Arms Trade Treaty. 

Parliaments have the authority to create and reform legislation and support and approve ratification of international agreements. As democratically elected representatives, parliamentarians represent their constituencies, are opinion formers and have access to the media and opportunities to create debate and stimulate public opinion. They can also play a very useful role in monitoring and scrutinizing implementation of a future treaty at national level.

Today’s event was chaired by Daisy Tourne, chair of the PF and Minister of Interior of Uruguay and 2 MPs from Albania and Mozambique spoke about the importance of the role played by civil societies in working closely with MPs in promoting the treaty and other disarmament issues. 

Manuel Araujo, MP from Mozambique spoke about the situation of armedviolence in his country and how the issue of arms control has become more mainstream since last year a deposit of arms exploded in Maputo and 100 people died and since armed crime has increased drastically in the past years. 

Ana Yancy from Arias Foundation in Costa Rica and I were the 2 NGOsspeakers and while Ana presented the principles that governs an ATT, I spoke about the parliamentary declaration Control Arms has launched last June and the need of support from MPs for the process for an ATT.  

So far more than 500 MPs from over 80 countries have signed the Control Arms Parliamentary Declaration and we aim to have 5,000 signatures by October 2008 to bring the strong voice of MPs in support of a global and effective ATT to the UN General Assembly in September of next year.

High Tea With The Ambassadors’ Wives…

 

By Bruce Millar, Control Arms Campaigner
Vavine Gabi and I attended a colourful event on Friday, afternoon tea with the association of UN Ambassadors’ wives. We had been kindly invited by Susan Issy, the wife of the Papua New Guinea Ambassador Robert Issy.

Vavine lost her mother to gun violence in Papua New Guinea, and is member of the PNG Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. She has come to New York to work with Control Arms and to speak at the Global People’s Consultation event at the UN on Monday 22 October.

Susan arrived at 3pm on the dot and led us upstairs where we were greeted by over 50 women, a table of international food and a 3 piece wind band! The wives were charming company and with such an international mix the conversation was never dull. I soon got over my slightly intimidating status as the only male guest and settled down to a 20 minute performance by the band and a plate of delicious food.

After we had eaten Vavine stood up to introduce herself and explained what she was doing in New York at the UN. The audience was visibly moved and many approached Vavine afterwards to commend her on her courage and determination to make her voice heard.

All in all it was a very enjoyable afternoon – we even won a prize in the raffle!!

Control Arms Meets The Liberian President!

By Anna Macdonald, Head of Control Arms, Oxfam International

 

It was a packed day yesterday here at the UN, as in addition to running a lunchtime meeting with states, to present Control Arms analysis of government’s submissions to the UN consultation on an ATT, we also had a meeting with the Liberian President, Mrs Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

 

On my way to the Liberia Mission, I thought about how much the campaign has moved on in the 4 years since we launched it. In 2003, there were 3 governments who publicly supported the idea of an ATT, now we are regularly meeting with many of the 153 who voted in favour of it last year.

I admire President Sirleaf incredibly, not only is she the first woman President in Africa, but she is determinedly tackling the task of rebuilding her country which was so devastated by civil war, and the influx of thousands of weapons and rounds of ammunition.

When we got to the mission, hordes of security guards were surrounding the building, but myself and Rebecca Peters, the Director of IANSA, were allowed through. After being thoroughly grilled by the Liberian security team, we presented the President with a large folder with some of the many media articles that our report on Africa and arms transfers, for which Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf wrote the foreword, secured last week around the world. We also urged her to raise the importance of the ATT when she meets President Bush later this week.

The President responded with some powerful comments on why she firmly believes we must all work together to make the ATT happen. “You can count on my government and you can count on me to keep working until we get this essential treaty in place”. With such an inspirational woman on our side I can’t help but feel we will succeed.

Africa’s Missing Billions

By Sahra Caffarate, Control Arms Campaigner

Well it’s not everyday that you get to eat breakfast with ambassadors, but that’s exactly what the team here got to do yesterday morning. Yesterday saw us all rising at the rather traumatising hour of 6am for a breakfast meeting with African States, to launch a new Oxfam, IANSA & Saferworld report called ‘Africa’s Missing Billions’.

The report highlights the fact that not only has Africa’s conflicts cost the continent massively in human lives & suffering, but it has also cost the continent billions of dollars in lost economic opportunities. 300 billion between 1997-2005 to quote the exact figure in the report. Now it may have been because it was so very early in the morning, but none of us here on the team could really comprehend just how much 300 billion actually was – think about it for a moment- it’s a huge, huge amount of money.

The President of Liberia, Mrs Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who had written the forward for the report, sent in a video message to the event asking the room to consider what that 300 billion dollars could have done in the fight against AIDS, TB & malaria on the continent, & how many children it could have sent to school. It was a sobering moment, and the message hit home.

I hope the African Ambassadors who attended the event will remember her request. Those lost billions could have changed the fortune of the continent they represent, & they have the power to speak up & keep the pressure on at the UN during the ATT decision-making process.

By no means is an ATT a complete solution, it will not help Africa recover those billions alone, but a treaty that controls the flow of weapons around the world will surely be a good place to start.

From The Front Line

By Sahra Caffarate, Control Arms Campaigner.

It’s the morning after our first event and as the rest of team head back down to the UN I thought I’d send you a quick update on what happened yesterday.

We kicked off the first series of Control Arms events we have planned over the next few weeks. ‘From The Front Line’ bought together the slightly unlikely sounding combination of a war journalist, 3 retired military leaders from around the world, UN ambassadors and a mountain of sandwiches to discuss the ATT.

Now if you’d told me 2 years ago when I first started at Oxfam that I’d be sat on a podium staring out at the huge room in the UN you see on TV, packed full of ambassadors & representatives I wouldn’t have believed you! (Mind you in my 2 years here I have had to dress a shark, wear top-to-toe spandex & don a giant Tony Blair head all in the name of campaigning so I really shouldn’t be surprised I guess!)

The Generals & the journalist however took it all in their stride & made most of their experiences in war zones around the world to give passionate & moving speeches on the need for current loopholes in the sales of arms to be firmly and quickly shut.

One moment was particularly poignant – General Cammeart from the Netherlands took to the stand & spoke of his last posting before retirement, commanding a deployment with the UN in the Congo. All the speakers were incredible, but at this particular story seemed to get through to the room the most, perhaps they were not expecting such a heartfelt story from a former military commander. From my vantage point on the podium I could see from their faces that it had got through to them.

“I thought I’d seen it all in my years of military service, but I hadn’t. Whilst in the Congo we heard news of 50 women and children being herded at gunpoint into a hut & burnt alive. When we got there the smell & sight was awful, we found two young extremely traumatised boys who had somehow avoided the gunmen & survived, they told us the militia had gone back into the bush so we tracked them. We eventually found them & were shocked to discover that they had brand new guns and ammunition, someone had sold these people brand new guns & ammunition. This is why we need an ATT, the current situation is like mopping the floor with the tap still on.”

I hope that story & the feelings they felt at that moment stays with them, all through the many many meetings they will have to go to on the ATT, so that they don’t forget that the ATT is not just another UN process & series of meetings that they have to go to as part of their working lives, but something that has the power to transform the lives of actual, real people.

We’re Back!

A year has passed since the Control Arms (CA) team were last in New York, & what a year it has been; the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) process has been gathering momentum since that historic day last October when 153 governments voted in favor of making an ATT a reality at the United Nations General Assembly. Throughout the year almost 100 governments have sent in their views to the Secretary General’s consultation on the ATT (very nearly breaking the record for the most submissions ever!). And governments were not the only people thinking about a global ATT this year; around the world the CA campaign mobilized its supporters & ran a parallel ‘Global People’s Consultation’. The response was overwhelming. The events and messages from around the world showed the vast support from ordinary people to be protected from armed violence resulting from the irresponsible arms trade. Their collective voice demanded a global treaty to help achieve this. Now all governments must ensure it becomes a reality. And so we are back at the UN; to lobby, campaign and to make sure the momentum continues so that we see an agreement of a tough effective treaty as quickly as possible.