The final outcome document: a tentative step

by Eloise Watson, Reaching Critical Will of WILPF

Today’s global strategic environment is characterized by complexity, in which the problems posed by the illicit trade of small arms and light weapon (SALW) are amplified. It was therefore of cardinal importance that the 2012 UNPoA Review Conference conclude with positive results. The conference did achieve its goal of adopting by consensus a final outcome document emphasizing the renewed commitment of the international community to combating the illegal trade in SALW. Such success, as Ambassador U. Joy Ogwu, President of the Conference, explained, will help create the “much needed and timely momentum for positive movement in the overall multilateral disarmament process.”
 

The Programme of Action on the illicit trade in ‘heavy sticks’

by Daniel Mack, Instituto Sou da Paz 

 

After the phrase “small arms and light weapons are the real weapons of mass destruction” came into fashion, it seems that the arms control world is on course to establish a new favourite cliché: “guns without bullets are nothing more than heavy sticks”. As it turns out, many clichés happen to also be true—and these two are indisputable. Why, then, does the PoA continue to exclude the very items that allow the illicit trade in SALW to have the negative human consequences the instrument was devised to tackle?

Balancing the old and the new

by Katherine Prizeman, Global Action to Prevent War

As the discussion moved from general statements to consultations on the revised drafts of the outcome document on Wednesday morning, a central debate emerged related to how to balance reiteration and re-commitment to the “old” language of the UN Programme of Action (UNPoA) with infusion of “new” forward-looking language that addresses challenges related to national implementation that introduces concepts and recommendations not explicitly found in the original 2001 document.  Incorporating language in the outcome document that enhances the UNPoA’s implementation is imperative to its continued and strengthened relevance in preventing and reducing armed violence.

Aiming for a meaningful outcome document

by Katherine Prizeman, Global Action to Prevent War

As the Second Review Conference (RevCon) for the UN Programme of Action on small arms (UNPoA) opened on Monday morning, the President of the Conference, Ambassador Ogwu of Nigeria, rightly called upon member states to clearly focus their general debate statements on the “desired outcome” for the conference.

Q: What has the PoA actually achieved on the ground? A: We have no idea

by Daniel Mack, Instituto Sou da Paz 

After more than a decade in existence, the PoA indeed comes to a “crossroads” at the 2012 RevCon, forcing governments to look back and seriously scrutinize the instrument’s (few) achievements and (plentiful) limitations. Also, they cannot squander an irreplaceable opportunity to look forward and act to overcome the PoA’s myriad failures and challenges. Many in civil society and government alike perceive this RevCon as possibly the last chance to avoid condemning the PoA to the ‘dustbin of history’.