Week long meeting on the Arms Trade Treaty begins tomorrow

The second Conference of States Parties (CSP2) of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) will be held in Geneva from 22-26 August 2016. This meeting should provide states, international organisations, and civil society with the opportunity to address challenges in the Treaty's implementation, establish comprehensive and transparent reporting procedures for arms transfers, and above all take on profiteering from war and violence.

There is much work to be done at CSP2, and decisions around reporting are particularly critical. States parties must ensure transparency through comprehensive, public reporting. This is key to effective implementation of the ATT. It would be a backwards step in transparency if states are given the option not to have their reports publicly available.

But beyond transparency, the core objective of the ATT is to protect human rights, prevent armed violence and armed conflict, and enhance peace and security. Thus states parties should take the opportunity of being gathered together in Geneva to challenge and condemn arms transfers that violate and undermine the Treaty, especially those made by other state parties.

Reaching Critical Will, as always, will provide daily coverage of the meeting with our ATT Monitor. We will also post all statements, documents, and other materials on our website as it become available. To receive our daily reports by email, subscribe at www.reachingcriticalwill.org/subscribe.

On Wednesday, 24 August, WILPF will hold a side event on ‘Preventing gender-based violence through arms control.’ Speakers from WILPF Sections in Spain, Cameroon, and Colombia will share their experiences and we will circulate two affiliated case studies on Spain and Sweden.

In addition, a speaker from WILPF Cameroon will participate in a panel discussion hosted by Amnesty International on arms control and the role of civil society, on Wednesday, 24 August at 7pm at UOG, Place des Grottes 3, 1201 Geneva.