Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: Representatives from NGOs that are
active on small arms issues, most of
whom represent organizations which
are part of IANSA (the International
Action Network on Small Arms), met
twice with members of agencies and
NGOs that are involved in the
Working Group on Children and
Armed Conflict.
Notes prepared by David Jackman, Quaker UN Office, New York
Representatives from NGOs that are active on small arms issues,
most of whom represent organizations which are part of IANSA
(the International Action Network on Small Arms), met twice with
members of agencies and NGOs that are involved in the Working
Group on Children and Armed Conflict. Roughly 25-30 people
participated in each meeting.
Tuesday, March 20,
The group outlined the ways in which we had been consulting
with each other and considered the opportunities over the
upcoming months for collaboration on the two overlapping UN
processes leading toward the small arms conference in July and
the Special Session on Children in September.
At a luncheon earlier in the day several diplomats active in the
small arms process had invited NGOs to bring new text to the
small arms Prepcom. Our NGO group asked an ad hoc group of
five people present to DRAFT SPECIFIC TEXT for the Draft
Program of Action on small arms and to offer this material to a
small number of highly sympathetic states over the next two days.
Also it was suggested that we propose that one of the special
THEMATIC DAYS planned for the July conference on small arms be
devoted to issues related to children. This could be built around
the launch of the Canadian impact study and include the
presence of children affected by small arms violence.
Tuesday, March 27,
The group received a REPORT FROM THE AD HOC TEXT DRAFTING
GROUP created the week before. They reported that they had
focused their text suggestions around three themes for insertion
into parts I (preamble) and II of the Draft Program of Action.
These centered on the issues of
1) Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration of former
combatants (DDR),
2) violations of humanitarian law, and
3) involvement of civil society in awareness raising.
These suggestions were distributed to a wide range of states
and several introduced new text on these subjects. As a follow-
up six members of our group volunteered to draft further
revisions for Parts III (implementation) and IV (follow-up process)
of the Draft Program of Action. In addition, three members agreed
to lobby on children’s issues directly with the three diplomats
who are nominated for chairing roles at the July conference:
Reyes (Colombia), Donowaki (Japan) and Weston
(UK).
Lora Lumpe introduced ideas for a THEMATIC DAY ON CHILDREN
at the July conference. These could involve:
· promoting a set of issue priorities for the Program of Action;
· a big event of interest to the new media;
· panel and workshops on advocacy possibilities; and
· the launch of the Canadian-funded study on children and small
arms.
Others built on these ideas and suggested that we look at A
COMPREHENSIVE LOBBYING PROCESS that would begin with the
June prepcom for the Special Session, continue with work at the
July Conference and conclude with the Special session in
September. It was noted that the Global Movement for Children,
which is led by Graca Machel and Nelson Mandela and is
supported by UNICEF, Save the Children and World Vision,
might be interested in some collaborative work. As initial ideas we
proposed:
· a special workshop on small arms issues to be held at the June
Prepcom
on the Special Session. This would update children’s advocates
on small
arms issues and the July conference (Lora Lumpe and Mary Diaz
volunteered to lead on this.)
· Bert Theuermann, UNICEF, noted that there is still an
opportunity to
improve the conflict/small arms section of the text in the
Document on
the Special Session for Children.
CONVENER FOR JULY CONFERENCE program on children - Rachel
Stohl’s name
was proposed (Rachel was not present). [Later in the week David
Jackman volunteered for the role, at least on an interim basis to
get the process started.]
VISUAL RESOURCES: Robert Muggah, Small Arms Survey, Geneva,
notes that SAS has a number of photos pertinent to children and
small arms.
Owner: David Jackman, Quaker UN Office, New York