MISSING PIECES - Inter-Parliamentary Union
MISSING PIECES - Inter-Parliamentary Union
MISSING PIECES - Inter-Parliamentary Union
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THEME 2<br />
3. Develop an international regime for the standardisation, authentication,<br />
verification, and continued monitoring of end-user commitments.<br />
Strengthening national and international end-use monitoring must be a<br />
top priority for arms exporting nations. Governments should begin efforts<br />
by developing a common end-user certificate that cannot be easily replicated<br />
or forged, and complementing it with a registry of authorised signatures.<br />
The Security Council, the UN Secretary-General, or the General<br />
Assembly could initiate such an effort by naming a UN working group to<br />
take the lead.<br />
4. Address arms brokering through legally binding measures, including<br />
by moving toward the negotiation of an international instrument on<br />
arms brokering. Too few governments regulate the activities of arms intermediaries,<br />
and there are inconsistencies in national controls where they<br />
exist. Illicit brokers can readily avoid existing controls by working from<br />
other jurisdictions. Such strong national measures must urgently be put<br />
in place. In addition, a global initiative will enable governments to clamp<br />
down on this truly transnational problem. <strong>Inter</strong>ested governments may<br />
choose to act through the UN or, failing that, create alternative forums to<br />
negotiate such a treaty.<br />
5. Ratify international instruments on arms transfers. In particular, the<br />
UN Firearms Protocol should be more widely ratified to demonstrate<br />
widespread support for its principles and enhance the harmonisation of<br />
rules at the global level. Parliamentarians can advocate for the signing,<br />
ratification and most importantly implementation into national law.<br />
6. Drive development of an ATT and ensure commitment. Although wide<br />
support was shown for the resolution commencing work on an ATT, there<br />
are still a number of states that do not actively support the development<br />
of an ATT. 44 The negotiation and drafting of an ATT promises to be a<br />
long process, with concrete results unlikely to appear before 2010. Parliamentarians<br />
can help build support domestically for such an instrument.<br />
Contributors to the original version of this theme included Lisa Misol,<br />
consultant; David Petrasek, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue; and Rachel<br />
Stohl, Centre for Defence Information. Comments and suggestions were<br />
received from Michael Crowley, Omega Foundation; Heidi Grau, Government<br />
of Switzerland; Keith Krause, Small Arms Survey; Lora Lumpe,<br />
Amnesty <strong>Inter</strong>national USA; and Guy Pollard, Government of the UK.<br />
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