05 jul THANK YOU FOR JOINING OUR SIDE EVENT AT THE SIDE LINES OF THE 8TH BIENNIAL MEETING OF STATES ON THE UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME OF ACTION ON SMALL ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS
The Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PFSALW) would like to extend its sincere gratitude to all participants who joined our side event at the side lines of the Eighth Biennial Meeting of States (BMS8) on the United Nations Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (UN PoA), taking place on 30 June in New York. A special thank you to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden for sponsoring the side event and to the United Nations Trust Facility Supporting Cooperation on Arms Regulation Fund (UNSCAR) UNODA for the generous financing of the side event.
In the side event, the conclusions from PFSALWs regional seminar for Southeast Asia on June 8-10 2022 in collaboration with the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) and the regional seminar for Africa on June 21-22 2022 in collaboration with the National Assembly of Cameroon were presented. The conclusions included key parliamentary recommendations on actions to take for the implementation of the UN PoA and its links to the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and the 2030 Agenda as identified the parliamentarians participating in respective regional seminar. Some of the key recommendations included:
- In Southeast Asia, promote a regional Model Law adjusted to the ASEAN context on the topic as to encourage further legislative actions and subsequent applications.
- In Southeast Asia, follow up with government representatives to ensure that the country is complying with its international reporting commitments, including reporting on the UN PoA and other relevant international instruments.
- In Africa, ensure the establishment of Commissions on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), and ensure adequate operation and function of the SALW Commissions, including access for parliamentarians to relevant capacity building efforts.
- In Africa, pursue sensitisation on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16, SDG 5, UN PoA, and Arms Trade Treaty among the population, including the item of peacebuilding in schools.
Warmly welcome to read the full summary of the main recommendations from respective region in the summary brief here: https://bit.ly/3P1aImT