Peace & Democracy

Programme Overview

PGA’s Peace and Democracy Programme focuses in marshalling global parliamentary support for improved regulation of the international arms trade, in particular where its inadequacies play a demonstrated role in destabilizing countries, causing or fuelling conflict and/or delay the emergence of countries from conflict.

Building on its record of accomplishment in the disarmament field, historically in the context of its members playing an important role in securing ratifications and entry into force of the CTBT and Chemical Weapons Convention by their respective countries in the 1980s and 1990s and, in more recent years, in the arena of the successful work of members in achieving ratifications by their respective countries of the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons - as well as improving domestic firearms legislation in certain other countries - PGA is uniquely positioned to deliver a significant contribution in:

1. Mobilizing global parliamentary support for the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)

   PGA Members from a diverse range of key countries have participated as Members of official delegations in all 4 ATT Preparatory Committee meetings that have taken place at the United Nations in New York to date. Several of these PGA legislators delivered their country’s national statements at these ‘PrepComs’ and/or made statements from the floor. (At the Third ATT PrepCom in July 2011, PGA Executive Committee Member Felipe Michelini MP (Uruguay) was the only Member of Parliament and one of only 4 representatives from civil society to make a formal Statement to all UN Member States gathered at the ATT PrepCom). Please see the following links for further information:

   • Control Arms Global Parliamentary Declaration on the Arms Trade Treaty
     
   • Interview with PGA President, Ross Robertson, on the importance of signing Control Arms Global Parliamentary Declaration on the Arms Trade Treaty
     
   • YouTube Video - The Urgent Need for An Arms Trade Treaty
     
   • List of Signatories of the Global Parliamentarian Declaration on the Arms Trade Treaty (as of May 07, 2012)
     
   • Statement made by Mr. Felipe Michelini MP (Uruguay) on behalf of the NGO Community to the 3rd ATT PrepCom at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 14 July, 2011
   • Presentations by the Representatives of the Control Arms Coalition to the 3rd ATT PrepCom at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 14 July, 2011

   As Members of these Delegations, these PGA MPs were also permitted to participate in ‘closed session’ meetings giving them an improved understanding of decision-making processes of UN Member States that is unique among civil society groups.

   PGA Members have also participated at key side-events during ATT PrepComs and PGA organized its own Workshop in which high level participation has been achieved and the role of legislators been effectively promoted and been made better understood among primary stakeholders. Please see the following links for further information:

   • The Arms Trade Treaty – Harnessing the Role of Legislators as Advocates and Lawmakers (4th PrepCom)
   • Workshop on 'Legislators and the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) - A Vital Role' hosted by the Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations on 12 July, 2011
   • PGA Delegation to the Second PrepCom Meeting on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at United Nations Headquarter on February 28-March 4, 2011
   • Side Event to the First Preparatory Commission of the Arms Trade Treaty "Facing Violence - Fighting Poverty: How A Robust ATT Can Support Development" at United Nations Headquarters on 13 July, 2011

   Of particular importance, and since March 2011, PGA is the only parliamentary organization which is a Member of the Steering Board of Control Arms, the global coalition for the large number of civil society organizations worldwide that is engaged in supporting the ATT. To read more about Control Arms, please click here.

   As such it plays a substantive, ongoing role in the policy deliberations and decisions of the Control Arms Campaign.

   PGA Peace & Democracy Staff also drafted the Control Arms Global Parliamentary Declaration on the Arms Trade Treaty, with input from Oxfam, Amnesty International and Safer World, among others. It is intended to garner a significant number of individual parliamentarian signatories to this Declaration from among PGA Members around the world and for it to be officially submitted to the UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty at the United Nations in New York in July 2012. PGA will continue to play an important role in the work of Control Arms at the 4th ATT PrepCom in February 2012, in the lead up to and during the UN ATT Conference in July 2012 and in the years that follow.

   It can also be usefully observed that the ATT is intended to cover conventional weapons of many kinds. While Small Arms and Light Weapons are an important component of this, the ATT is not confined to this sphere. Although some organizations have a particular focus in SALW, PGA's disarmament work has always been on a broader stage, both conventional and nuclear, from the time of its establishment in 1978.

   PGA is also fortunate and rather unique, in being able to utilize the expertise of its Programme Work in other areas, most notably in the highly successful work of its International Law & Human Rights Programme in improving the universality of the Rome Statute of the ICC, in seeking to achieve the same objectives in the context of the ATT, once the treaty text is established in July 2012.

2. Advocating effectively for individual country ratifications of the Arms Trade Treaty to enable it to enter into force without undue delay

   PGA Members worldwide are not only deeply committed to making the ATT a reality, but many of them possess very considerable reservoirs of experience in the challenging process of advocating for individual country ratification of treaties, once the treaty text has been agreed, as well as ensuring the drafting of adequate domestic law implementing such treaties.

3. Continue to advocate effectively for individual country ratifications of the Arms Trade Treaty after it enters into force to ensure that it becomes a truly universally accepted Treaty

   The threshold number of individual UN Member States required to become party to the ATT in order for the ATT to enter into force is yet to be determined. Typically, for most international conventions, this figure can range from anywhere between 15 countries up to 60 countries becoming party before a treaty enters into force. In the case of the ATT, it is anticipated that the figure will be at least 30. However to achieve full universality of a treaty, thereby ensuring its long term impact, it will be necessary to ensure that the largest number of ratifications/accessions are achieved among all 193 UN Member States in the years ahead. The credibility and legitimacy of any international treaty is measured in these terms. As it has done so effectively in the context of the Rome Statute of the ICC, so too will PGA Members worldwide work tirelessly for the true universality of the ATT.

4. Drafting implementing legislation to give effect to the Arms Trade Treaty in all countries where PGA Members have been active in promoting ratifications of the Arms Trade Treaty

   Many PGA Members are both politicians and trained lawyers. A large number of these PGA Members have therefore played a fundamental role not only in advocating successfully for ratification of/accession to treaty, but also in actual drafting of the legislation that is so critical to give actual effect to the ATT in domestic law. This same network of legislators will be mobilized to pursue these twin objectives also in the context of the ATT, as many of them have so effectively done already in the past 9 years in the context of the Rome Statute of the ICC.