DYB2011-Part-II-web

Regional disarmament
the Control of Illicit Proliferation, Circulation and Trafficking of Small Arms
and Light Weapons. The Strategy, inter alia, calls for addressing the SALW
problem comprehensively by mainstreaming SALW control activities into
projects to achieve peace, security, development and stability in the continent.
(For more details on the Strategy, see p. 132.)
During the year, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea and Rwanda signed the
Central African Convention for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons,
Their Ammunition and All Parts and Components That Can Be Used for Their
Manufacture, Repair and Assembly, also known as the Kinshasa Convention. 23
As a result, all 11 member States of the United Nations Standing Advisory
Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa (UNSAC) became
signatories. The Convention is a common reference point to coordinate efforts
in order to stop the uncontrolled proliferation of SALW in Central Africa.
In 2011, States in Southern and Western Africa initiated the process of
marking SALW with the aim of improving the traceability of weapons and
their accountability. In December, governmental experts of the Economic
Community of West African States adopted new standards and unique
codes for the marking of SALW for the organization’s member States. The
agreement contains high standards, as the organization’s member States need
to ensure that SALW are marked, identifying the institution using the weapon
or the user if it is for civilian use. Furthermore, member States must also
ensure that classical and security markings are placed on new SALW imports
and new “industrially produced” SALW. Uniquely, the text also includes
marking requirements for craft-produced firearms. (For more details on these
standards, see p. 133.)
Following the adoption in late September in Lomé of a common strategy
to control SALW, governmental experts at the same meeting adopted a draft
African Common Position on an Arms Trade Treaty. Expected to be discussed
at the AU Summit in the summer of 2012, the draft African Common Position
states that AU member States believed that the goal of the arms trade
treaty (ATT) should be the establishment of the highest possible common
international standards for the transfer of conventional arms. As such, most
AU member States agreed to the inclusion of SALW, ammunition, parts
and components, and related technology and equipment in the scope of the
treaty. The draft African Common Position also supported the inclusion of a
broad range of activities to be covered by the ATT, including exporting and
importing, brokering, leases and loans, transit controls, and restrictions in
cases when arms transfers should not be authorized. Central African States
that are members of UNSAC also adopted a common position on an ATT (see
p. 134).
23 The treaty text and status of adherence are available from http://disarmament.un.org/
treaties.
131