Keynote Address by PGA Member Hon. Dr. Bernadette Lahai, MP (Sierra Leone) at West Africa/ECOWAS ATT Training Workshop
Freetown, Sierra Leone, 25 February 2014
Chairperson, our distinguished delegates from the five countries, WAANSA President, Mr Baffour Amoa, President of CCSL, Rev Chief D M Speck, Representative from the UK High Commission, organizers of this workshop, distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
I say a very good morning to you all. For our international guests, I say welcome. Let me start by thanking the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone and West African Action Network on Small Arms for inviting me to give the keynote address on this very important subject and at this August gathering.
I also say congratulations to the organizers for this training of trainers workshop on how to lobby and campaign for the ratification and implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
This workshop could not have come at a better time than this as fervent efforts are being made by key stakeholders such as Control Arms, Parliamentarians for Global Action, the UN, Parliaments and Civil Society Organisations working for the control of small arms and light weapons such as Action Network on Small Arms, West African Action Network on Small Arms, Sierra Leone Action Network on Small Arms to name a few for the early entry into force of this very important Treaty.
The goal of the Treaty is to foster world peace and security by ending the transfer of conventional weapons to countries experiencing instability or conflict, controlling illicit arms trade, the irresponsible and wreck less use of arms as well as its proliferation. It is such uses that has prolonged and fuel armed conflicts in the world. It also encourages drug and human trafficking and terrorism. Women and children's rights are mostly abused and violated, while a substantial proportion of national revenue is used to fight such ills, monies that would other wise be used to provide basic social amenities for citizens. With such control it will make it more difficult for human right abuses and those who violate international humanitarian and international human right laws from being supplied with such arms.
Distinguished Trainees, ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to go down memory lane with regards the road the discussion and development of the ATT has traveled to get to its present state. In 1997, initial discussions on the ATT started, with the original aim of developing a set of ethical standards for the arms trade that would ultimately be adopted at the international level. From this point on the discussion on the ATT went through to the following stages: in October 2006 the UN adopted Resolution 61/89 to establish a common international standard for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms and asked the UN to seek the views of Member States on the feasibility, scope and draft parameters for a comprehensive, legally binding instrument establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms and to submit a report on the subject to the General Assembly at its 62nd session; in December, 2006, 153 Member States voted in favor of the Resolution while on September, 2007, the Resolution also requested the Secretary General to established a group of government experts to examine the feasibility, scope and draft parameters for such legal instrument and to submit its report to the Assembly for consideration. The report of this group was published in 2008; in 2009, the Secretary General adopted Resolution 64/48, which included a decision to convene a UN Conference on the ATT; in July 2012 the ATT conference was held and a final conference in December 2012; on 2nd April 2013 the UN General Assembly adopted the ATT by a overwhelming majority vote of 154 States and on Monday June 3rd 2013 the ATT was opened for signatory. I attended the First and Fourth Preparatory meetings of the ATT through the sponsorship of the Parliamentarians for Global Action. As a result, I was able to enriched the debate on and text of the Arms and Ammunition Acts 2012 immensely.
Africa played a pivotal role in the negotiations leading to the adoption. Nigeria and Cote d'ivoire made statements on behalf of the African Group and ECOWAS, respectively. Ghana also made statement on behalf of 103 concurring countries.
Because many African countries have experienced armed conflicts, including Sierra Leone, the African stance was no doubt assertive in calling for the inclusion of small arms and light weapons in the scope of the treaty.
Sierra Leone has come from an eleven-year old rebel war that was fueled by proceeds from diamonds used to purchase small arms and light weapons. Since the war key milestones have been achieved and ongoing such as: disarmament of the warring factions, ratification of the ECOWAS protocol on SALW, Establishment of the National Commission on SALW by an act of parliament, conduct of a national survey on SALW, elaboration of a 5-year national action plan, enactment of an Arms and Ammunition Act in 2012, which was greatly informed by the draft text of the ATT, preparation for the commencement of marking of all fire arms in the country, computerization of the firearms registry, proper record keeping of all SALW, disposal of surplus and obsolete SALW, confiscation and seizure of SALW and collaboration with Interpol in dealing with armed crimes. Today, Sierra Leone is regarded as one of the safest countries in the continent, despite it being a post conflict country. This is not to say that Sierra Leone is arms free, the very reason for its support of the ATT.
During the negotiation, Sierra Leone made interventions aligning itself with the statements delivered on behalf of ECOWAS and that of like minded countries, in reaction to the non-paper submitted by the President of the conference. Sierra Leone's reiterated the importance of the prohibition of conventional arms and ammunitions to unauthorized countries and also called for the inclusion into the scope of the treaty ammunitions and munitions. This is in addition to the signing of the Control Arms Declaration by members of parliament of Sierra Leone.
Now that the ATT has been adopted, there are two very important steps in its implementation remaining-the signing and ratification-found in Articles 21 and 22 of the Treaty. The Treaty shall be opened for signature on the 3rd June, 2013 by all States until it comes into force. Upon the deposition of the fiftieth instrument of ratification with the Depository, the Treaty will come into force. The coming into force of the Treaty is of particular importance to African, hence this training of trainers workshop.
Since its adoption and opening for signature on 3rd June 2013, 116 State Parties have signed , 13 from Africa, while only 11 have ratified, two from Africa, Nigeria and Mali.
Sierra Leone signed the treaty on the 25th September, 2013. It is yet to ratify it, although i have been reliably informed that efforts are underway for the laying of the Treaty in Parliament for ratification very soon.
In the light of the particular tragic history of conflict and suffering that our country and continent has endured, exacerbated by the hitherto unregulated international trade in small arms and light weapons, I believe it should be a high political priority of the Government of four countries present here in this workshop to ratify as soon as is practicable and to be among the first fifty UN member states that do so, enabling this Treaty to enter into force during 2014.
Distinguished trainees, ladies and gentle men, since opening of the Treaty for signatory, I am aware of several sensitization and awareness raising seminars and workshop organized to expedite, signing, ratification and implementation. For example, a Joint Committee Session of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) and the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was held in Midrand, South Africa from the 17-18 October, 2013. I was the Convener of the meeting and at the end the Midrand Communique was adopted calling all present to engage their parliaments, government, civil society and arms control national systems to advocate and lobby for the ratification and implementation of the Treaty. PGA also organised a Regional Parliamentary Workshop on The Arms Trade Treaty: The Role of Parliamentarians at the Parliament Office (Mkwawa Hall), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 29-30 May, 2013. I was also a participants at the workshop and presented a paper on that occasion. Again there was the Dar es Salaam Declaration, calling participants to lobby their parliaments, government and civil society for an early signature and ratification. An other workshop was also organized in Windhoek, Namibia from 7-8th March 2013 by PGA and again adopted the Namibian Call to Action towards the signing, ratification and implementation of the Treaty. PGA has also developed and introduced a Handbook on the Ratification and Implementation of the ATT for Parliamentarians. This was in 2013.
These efforts still continue today unabated as evidenced by this two-day training of trainers workshop on lobbying and campaigning for the ratification and implementation of the ATT.
The objective of this workshop, we are told, are to increase capacity of civil society organizations in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ghana in West Africa to lobby and campaign for ATT signature and ratification, give opportunity to participants to discuss and input into the draft CSO lobby and campaign manual content, discuss lessons learnt from the implementation of the ECOWAS Protocol on SALW and increase awareness in the region of ATT signing and ratification process.
I believe that civil society organizations had played and continue to play a major and critical role in the attainment of the goal of the ATT. This was acknowledged by the UN Secretary General on the 3rd June, 2013, when he said " the adoption of the ATT is further testament to what can be accomplished when government and civil society work together through the United Nations"
Civil Society organizations, who advocate for the voiceless, can undertake a wide range of activities including but not limited to : organizing football marches, student films, radio and television shows, peace marches against gun violence, write open letters to their Heads of States, carry out film screening on the negative impact of gun violence, round table discussions, take part in 16 days activism on gender violence as well as develop handbooks on the ratification and implementation.
In addition, CSOs efforts could be complemented by forging a working and stronger relationship with parliamentarians, who by virtue of their elevated capacity to reach out to key decision makers in the Executive Branch of Government can encourage and urge support for the ratification and implementation of the Treaty. Already, the Sierra Leone Parliament has, since 2003, being a member of the Parliamentarians for Global Action and as a result, played significant role in the adoption and signing of the Treaty, by participating in the preparatory meetings, where the text of the Treaty was developed and negotiated, took part in many of the regional and global sensitization meetings organized by PGA and was among the 2100 signatories to the Global Parliamentary Declaration on the ATT between November 2011 and June 2012.
I want to congratulate WAANSA for developing a CSO lobby and campaign manual for the ATT. This is a laudable venture. This manual will provide valuable toolkit to not only the CSOs, but also other players to create awareness to all stakeholders,and even those involved in the illicit trade and reckless use of conventional arms, of the dangers these pose and take measures to curb this trade. A manual of this nature, therefore, should be simple, user friendly and vivid in its illustration of the seriousness of the subject.
Let me conclude by saying that there cannot be sustainable development without peace, security and stability. To ensure this, there must be effective control of international arms trade and responsible use of arms for legitimate purposes. No effort at realizing this goal is too small as not to play your part to the achievement of world peace and security is to undermine your own very existence since bullets do not have eyes to segregate between the good and the bad. Even by participating in this workshop, you do not realize the invaluable contributions you are making to ensuring that we have a world that is arms free.
I, therefore, wish you a successful two-day deliberations and hope that you shall come up with concrete plans on how to take the ATT to the next level, that is, coming into force through the ratification and deposition by 50 State Parties.
I also encourage you to take advantage of your been here by enjoying our beautiful beaches and sampling our delicious Sierra Leonean dishes. You don't know when next you shall be offer such golden opportunity to visit our beautiful country.
Thank you for coming and listening.