Foreign Affairs Minister, Winston Dookeran has underscored the importance of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) which he described as the “missing link” in the global regulation of the illicit movement of small and conventional arms and ammunition.
Addressing delegates yesterday from 86 countries during the opening of the First Preparatory Meeting of the First Conference of States Parties at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, Dookeran said the time had come for small and big nations to join hands and share in the burden and responsibilities of dealing with the risks threatening global peace and security.
Welcoming regional and international representatives to the two-day event which will conclude today, Dookeran said as the United Nations embarked on a new era of multilateralism, it had become necessary to build a global institution that would sustain efforts to combat these risks.
He said: “We are here today to put into place the building blocks in order to ensure the institution we are building in the global context is able to withstand the stormy weather ahead and also be able to address the current problems we are facing.” During a briefing session last week, Dookeran sought to link the movement of unregulated arms and ammunition, to the local crime situation.
Claiming this initiative was not a “token solution” and should not be perceived as such, Dookeran assured those present that their hard work and commitment to ensure the ATT came into being, would not be in vain. During the course of yesterday and today, delegates will decide on the establishment of the permanent Secretariat of the ATT, its size and format, staffing requirements, institutional framework and terms of relations with States Parties.
Promoting their call for steel to be used in a better way—other than in the manufacture of arms and ammunition—Sapophonic’s Ensemble provided an unplanned but enjoyable musical interlude for those having breakfast on the terrace yesterday.
Accompanied by members of the Caribbean Coalition for Development and the Reduction of Armed Violence (CDRAV) who held up signs that read “A Better Use For Steel” and “Stop Dodgy Arms Deals,” the steelpan side entertained the audience until the start of the opening session. Officials of CDRAV claimed that tighter controls were needed to regulate the $85 billion global arms trade.
With 130 signatories, 62 of which have ratified the ATT, the non-governmental group Control Arms and CDRAV both indicated their support of it as they said it would set the highest standards for cross-border transfers of arms and ammunition.
Before an arms transfer can be authorised, it must be assessed against a strict criteria, including whether the arms might be used for human rights violations or war crimes. If there is substantial risk that the transfer will breach any of the outlined criteria, then the arms transfer cannot be authorised. Control Arms conference, to be held in September, would allow governments around the world to influence the arms trade and prevent the flood of weapons that caused so much suffering.
The two-day meeting follows government’s efforts to garner support from the member countries of the United Nations, to establish the ATT’s Secretariat in T&T.