DISARMAMENT WORKSHOPS ADDRESS ISSUES OF TRANSPARENCY, SMALL ARMS IN ‘NAIROBI DECLARATION’ COUNTRIES

Disarmament workshops address issues of transparEncy,

small arms in ‘Nairobi declaration’ countries

NAIROBI, 21 May (UN Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- The United Nations organized two disarmament-related workshops at the United Nations Office in Nairobi from 19 to 21 May.  The first workshop, on Transparency in Armaments, held from 19 to 20 May, was organized by the United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs (UNDDA) with funds provided by the Governments of the United Kingdom and Sweden.  Its aim was to sensitize the countries of the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa region to the need to participate in the United Nations conventional global instruments on transparency in armaments, namely the Register of Conventional Arms and the standardized instrument for reporting military expenditures.

The workshop gathered representatives from all the Nairobi Declaration countries, namely, Burundi, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania, representatives of a number of donor countries, namely, the Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as representatives of the Nairobi Secretariat on Small Arms and Light Weapons (Nairobi Secretariat), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) offices in the region, and the Lomé-based UNDDA Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa.  Participants welcomed the progress made by the 2003 Group of Governmental Experts on the UN Register of Conventional Arms.

The second workshop began in the afternoon of 20 May, immediately after the workshop on Transparency in Armaments.  It was organized as a joint initiative of the Small Arms and Demobilization Unit of the UNDP and UNDDA, under the auspices of the United Nations Coordinating Action on Small Arms (CASA) mechanism and in close collaboration with the Nairobi Secretariat.  The focus of this workshop was the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons (Programme of Action), particularly the National Reporting on its Implementation.  In addition to the participants in the workshop on Transparency in Armaments, representatives of Saferworld, SaferAfrica, Africa Peace Forum, and the Centre for Conflict Resolution (Uganda), Interpol, and the United Nations Disarmament Research Institute (UNIDIR) participated in this workshop.

The workshop also provided an opportunity for consultations on the issue of further steps to enhance international cooperation to prevent, combat and eradicate illicit brokering activities, which constitutes an important avenue for the diversion of weapons to illicit markets.

Statements made by the representatives of the Nairobi Declaration countries highlighted the seriousness of the small arms problem in the subregion and the challenges they face in the implementation of the Programme of Action and the Nairobi Declaration.  It was reiterated that the solution to the problem of small arms and light weapons requires a subregional approach.  Remarkable progress has been made in efforts to foster subregional cooperation and coordination and the implementation of the Programme of Action.  The establishment of National Focal Points and the development of National Plans of Action, with the assistance and the involvement of non-governmental organizations, was an example of such progress and effective partnership between the governments and civil society.  The workshop emphasized the need for increased international assistance to develop capacity and ensure the proper functioning of the National Focal Points and the effective implementation of the National Plans of Action already developed by a number of countries in the region.

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