By Precious D. Freeman
The Liberia National Commission on Arms (LiNCA) has begun its first Pan-African Workshop to support the universalization and effective implementation on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
The workshop brought together over 49 delegates from 20 African States, including Rwanda, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Libya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius, Zambia, among others, as well as representatives from international organizations, including the ECOWAS, the Regional Centre on Small Arms (RECSA), and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), to deliberate on issues intended to support the universalization and effective implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
The workshop, which started yesterday, is expected to last for four days from March 18-21, 2024 in Monrovia, and will provide a platform to facilitate an exchange of experiences and lessons learned on the ATT universalization and effective implementation among representatives from ATT States, Parties, Signatories, and Non-member States in Africa, as well as representatives from the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities in Africa.
The Monrovia Workshop will also enable the production of a lesson learned document containing effective measures for enhancing ATT universalization, an instrument which will be presented at the Arms Trade Treaty’s 10th Conference of States Parties (CSP10) in Geneva, Switzerland.
The initiative is being organized by the Liberia National Commission on Arms (LiNCA), in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), and funded under the 2023/2024 Arms Trade Treaty Secretariat Voluntary Trust Fund.
Speaking at the workshop, the Acting Chairman of the National Commission on Arm, Thomas Kollie, said that Liberia as a post conflict nation has experienced firsthand the devastating effects of the unregulated trade in conventional arms, resulting to the loss of thousands of lives and the destruction of practically the entire infrastructure, as they had to start from zero to get to where they are now.
According to him, they note that the regulation of conventional arms will contribute to global peace, thereby reducing the untold suffering brought on by the unregulated trade in conventional arms, which can be easily diverted to cause untold human sufferings.
“Because of our past, Liberia has been committed to the effective implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty, the instrument regulating the global trade in conventional arms,” he said.
Acting Chairman Kollie furthered, “In furtherance to this commitment, the Government of Liberia amended the Liberia Firearms and Ammunition Control Act of 2015, domesticating the Arm Trade Treaty in 2022, making Liberia one of the first states to domesticate this very important instrument in Africa.”
He emphasized that LiNCA could not have made these significant steps without the support of the Government of Liberia and a host of other local and international partners.
“On behalf of my colleagues and the entire LiNCA family, I wish to extend special recognition to ECOWAS Commission, the European Union (EU), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Arm Trade Treaty Secretariat, and others whom we owe a debt of gratitude,” he said.
Speaking further, the Head of the ATT Secretariat, Dumisani Dladla, said that the Voluntary Trust Fund (VTF) selection committee approved the proposed workshop and acknowledged that it presents a new and attractive model to organize regional projects with integrated treaty universalization and implementation objectives.
According to him, they are hopeful that the workshop will deliver on its commitments so that its experience can be shared with other states considering regional projects.
“I am certain that in the short to medium term, Liberia will share the outcomes of the workshop with others in the forthcoming ATT meetings in Geneva,” he said.
He maintained that workshops like these are an important means of building capacity and knowledge on the ATT, and for sharing information on success and challenge of states regarding their universalization and implementation efforts.
