The Echoes from AEFJN No. 30 - July August 2016 are now available online. 1305-06 NEWS ON SMALL ARMS - May-June 2013
67 countries sign the Arms Trade Treaty |
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When the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) adopted on 2 April 2013 opened for signature on 3 June 2013, 60 countries among them 23 countries from the EU and 9 from Africa signed it. Among them there were a few countries greatly affected by unregulated arms transfers and 3 of the biggest exporter: Germany, France and Britain. 50 ratifications are necessary for the ATT coming into effect.
For photos of diplomats with members of Control Arms, http://bit.ly/attfoto
Photos of signatories while signing: http://www.un.org/disarmament/ATT/meetings/20130603_signing_event/
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The Arms Trade Treaty: A Step Forward
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The Small Arms Survey Research Note, ‘The Arms Trade Treaty: A Step Forward in Small Arms Control?’ explores the relationship between the ATT and other international instruments in this area and examines the ATT’s potential impact on the existing commitments in the area of small arms control and, specifically, international transfers.
Download ‘The Arms Trade Treaty: A Step Forward in Small Arms Control?’: |
Arms trafficking in Western Africa: Côte d'Ivoire and Mali at the core |
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In the unstable situation in the Sahel region the role of arms trafficking in the perpetuation and aggravation of violent conflicts in Western Africa it is important. This research of GRIP focused on Mali and Côte d’Ivoire presents the role of French and Belorussian brokers that provided to the former authorities large quantities of small arms and light weapons (SALW). On the opposite side important stocks of small arms and ammunition were delivered to the former rebels by Burkina Faso. In Mali, the acquisition of arms by armed groups controlling northern Mali has come mainly through fleeing fighters and Salafist networks that acquired a large quantity of weapons from stockpiles in Libya. Read more… (english)
Télécharger : Côte d’Ivoire et Mali, au cœur des trafics
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Ad Hoc Arsenalss of Selected Non-state Actors |
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While the physical security and stockpile management (PSSM) of small arms, light weapons and their ammunition by governmental bodies have been well followed, little attention has been paid to the arsenals of non-state armed groups, yet the danger are similars as are the arms used by both groups. This Small Arms Brief analyses the practices of armed groups in three countries: the Misrata revolutionary brigades in Libya; the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC; and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, or SPLA.
Download Ad Hoc Arsenals: PSSM Practices of Selected Non-state Actors
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Military spending and the EU crisis |
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The big amounts of military spending continue despite the seriousness of the European economic crisis. While social policies, pensions and wages are being cut, military spenditure is hardly being reduced. In a time of austerity the EU military expenditure totalled €194 billion in 2010, equivalent to the annual deficits of Greece, Italy and Spain combined. The weapons industry calls on the importance of the number of jobs. Or in many countries the big military expenditure contributed to the debt crisis, as was the case in Greece and Portugal. The paper Guns, Debt and Corruption: Military spending and the EU crisis reveals how even Italy, facing debts of €1.8 trillion, still spends a higher proportion of its GDP on military expenditure than the post-Cold War low of 1995.
http://www.tni.org/sites/www.tni.org/files/download/eu_milspending_crisis.pdf
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Jesuit Initiative against the weapons that fuel
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The Jesuit Great Lakes Advocacy Initiative, promoted by organizations linked to the Society of Jesus has decided to raise the awareness of the international public opinion on the crisis in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and to monitor the flow of weapons that fuel the war in the region. The proliferation and the trafficking of illegal arms in DRC has fuelled the escalation of the conflict and the instability of the region. The coalition will highlight the link between the conflict and the proliferation of weapons, and will work at tracing the origin of the flow of arms towards the area, conducting in-depth researches in the field.
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Partnerships for Peace and Development:
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The Saferworld briefing explores key issues voiced and discussed at the seminar with government, researchers, public and private companies and civil society from China and South Sudan on the economic cooperation between the two countries. Emerging from a long period of conflict, South Sudan faces various development challenges. The announcement on the 23rd April of a substantial package of loans from China to South Sudan for transport and energy infrastructure projects highlights the importance of conflict sensitive economic cooperation, as economic cooperation does not inevitably lead to peace.
Download Partnerships for Peace and Development: South Sudan and China
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AU prepares its shock troops |
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The new African Union (AU) force called African Immediate Crisis Response Capacity (AICRC) will intervene quickly in emergency situations conflicts within the continent and will have a strictly military capacity. This force is different from the “rapid deployment capability” (RDC) African Standby Force (ASF) that is planned to be ready later on and will have military, policing and civilian duties. Read more.
http://www.irinnews.org/report/98139/analysis-au-prepares
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Harmonized EU Arms Exports Policies in Times of Austerity? |
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The Greens at the European Parliament presented a study on EU Arms exports and Human Rights. EU member states are the first arms exporters in 2011 (61% of the EU arms export went outside the EU). The arms seen in the Arab Spring revolts were often coming from the EU, thus showing that the human rights criteria in the EU Common position have not always been respected. Find the study at :
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UN Photo Stuart Price.