Support a strong ATT that helps prevent gender-based armed violence
Four international organisations - Amnesty International, the Women's Network of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and Religions for Peace - have united to support a strong Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and the inclusion of a specific gender criterion in the negotiated text. We launched a Joint Policy Paper on Gender and the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which outlined our position. If the ATT is to be an effective legal instrument in regulating the international arms trade, recognition of the potential gendered impacts of international transfers must also be included.
Irresponsible transfers of weaponry, munitions, armaments and related equipment across borders have resulted in the loss of millions of lives and livelihoods and the violation of fundamental human rights. In particular, the widespread availability of small arms and light weapons increases the risk to both men and women’s security, and impedes their enjoyment of their civil, political, social and economic rights in different ways. There is a gender dimension to the trade whereby women are disproportionately affected by armed gender-based violence.
This joint paper briefly outlines why the ATT should require States not to allow an international transfer of conventional arms where there is a substantial risk that the arms under consideration are likely to be used to perpetrate or facilitate acts of gender-based violence, including rape and other forms of sexual violence. Some key questions in the risk assessment process should include whether there is an effective regulatory system to control arms and prevent such violence, and whether there is evidence of acts or patterns of gender-based violence.
ENDORSE OUR CALL to support a strong ATT and the inclusion of a specific gender criterion in the negotiated text.
The criteria of an Arms Trade Treaty should require States not to authorize an international transfer of conventional arms where there is a substantial risk that the arms under consideration are likely to be used to perpetrate or facilitate acts of gender-based violence, including rape and other forms of sexual violence.
ENDORSE before 2 July 2012 by emailing info[at]reachingcriticalwill.org
Endorsements so far:
Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy
Amnesty International
Association Baho Missions, Rwanda
Association des Femmes pour les Initiatives de Paix (AFIP), Mali
Bonne Génération du Burundi/Good Generation of Burundi
Breaking the Wall of Silence, Namibia
Center for Peace Education, Philippines
Centre pour la Justice et la Réconciliation (C.J.R.), DR Congo
Coalition pour le Développement et la Réhabilitation Sociale (CODR-UBUNTU), Burundi
Control Arms Foundation of India
Cri de Secours contre la Prolifération des Armes Légères (CRISPAL-Afrique), DRC
Eastern African sub Regional Support Initiative for Advancement of Women (EASSI), Uganda
FemLINKPacific
Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS)
Femmes des Médias pour la Justice au Congo (FMJC), DR Congo
FOLECO/Gender (Kisangani), DR Congo
Fond pour Les Femmes Congolaises, DR Congo
Fund "Sukhumi", Georgia
Global Action to Prevent War
Global Justice Center
Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
Gun Free South Africa, South Africa
Gun Free Kitchen Tables, Israel
IANSA Women's Network Nigeria
Impunity Watch, The Netherlands
Instituto Promundo, Brazil
International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA)
International Peace Bureau
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)
Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network, India
NANGOF Trust, Namibia
New Profile, Israel
NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security
Observatory on Gender and Armed Violence (OGAV/CES), Portugal
Peace Action New York State
Religions for Peace
Sokka Gakkai International
United Network of Young Peacebuilders
Women Engaged in Action on 1325 (WE Act 1325), The Philippines
Women in Alternative Action, Cameroon
Women in Black, UK
Women's Initiatives for Peace and Governance (WIPG), Nigeria
Women's Institute for Alternative Development (WINAD), Trinidad and Tobago
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
WILPF Aotearoa
WILPF DRC
WILPF UK
Women's Right to Education Programme (WREP), Nigeria
Women Worldwide Advancing Freedom & Equality (WWAFE), Australia and the United Kingdom
3. Support our call: WRITE TO YOUR GOVERNMENT
SUPPORT OUR CALL by writing to your government directly to support a strong ATT and the inclusion of a specific gender criterion in the negotiated text.
The criteria of an Arms Trade Treaty should require States not to authorize an international transfer of conventional arms where there is a substantial risk that the arms under consideration are likely to be used to perpetrate or facilitate acts of gender-based violence, including rape and other forms of sexual violence.