On February 24th 2021, PGA's International Peace and Security Program organized a Webinar on “Disarmament in A Time of Pandemic – The Role of Parliamentarians.” Following opening remarks, Mr. Peter Barcroft made a presentation on the Biological Weapons Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004), highlighting, in particular, their central importance and relevance in the context of Covid-19. Mr. Florian Delsert subsequently made a presentation on Fully Autonomous Weapons and the importance of generating parliamentary support for an international ban on such weapons. PGA undertook also to draw up National Action Plans for participants to promote implementation of the BWC and UNSCR 1540.
In addition, PGA introduced the Parliamentary Handbook on The Role of Women Parliamentarians in Preventing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
The Webinar convened 19 Members of Parliament from 9 different countries across Africa: Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Togo, Gambia, Lesotho, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Namibia, Burkina Faso. Level of interactive discussion was high, in particular from Hon. Christine Vuanga of the DRC, the Speaker of Parliament of Lesotho, Hon. Sephiri Enoch Motanyane and Hon. Gnogmire Noufo Dorcas of Togo. Following the Webinar, 4 Members of Parliament: Hon. Jean-Marc Lombaku from DRC, Hon. Benoit Degla from Bénin, Hon. Suwaibou Touray from the Gambia and Hon. Shakeel Shabbir Ahmed, from Kenya signed the Global Parliamentary Declaration in support of a negotiation of a treaty to ban fully autonomous weapons.
The purpose of this Parliamentary Handbook is to highlight why and how Women Parliamentarians can make decisive contributions in pushing back against a threat that has never been more clear and present. Humanity currently confronts a myriad of serious, sophisticated, and existential threats, perhaps more than has ever been the case in its troubled history. Addressing and resolving these many, different challenges in an effective manner requires the engagement of all those who are affected, directly and indirectly, by such threats. The Covid-19 pandemic, in particular, has provided a timely, and stern, reminder to humanity, not only of its extraordinary fragility and vulnerability, but also a rebuke of its ‘business as usual’ approach when it comes to confronting risks and
threats of the most serious kind. Significant strides forward have been made in engaging greater involvement by women decision and policy makers in the Peace and Security arena, in particular in the past twenty years. But this is a journey which in many ways that has just begun and the path ahead remains a long and challenging one. Many mind sets, fundamentally, remain to be changed and words have too frequently not been matched by concrete actions and deeds. The purpose of this Parliamentary Handbook on the Role of Women Parliamentarians in the Prevention of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) is to highlight why and how Women Parliamentarians can make decisive contributions in pushing back against a threat that has never been more clear and present. It is hoped that this Handbook will:Publication
Parliamentary Handbook on the Role of Women Parliamentarians in Preventing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction
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