1. Glossary of terms
2. The 2006 RevCon
3. How will IANSA start preparing for the RevCon?
4. Further opportunities at the UN during 2005
5. Calendar of Important Dates
6. Summary of NGO Action Items
7. Useful documents

1. Glossary of terms
PoA = UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects
PrepCom = Preparatory Committee Meeting
RevCon = Conference to Review Progress Made in Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons
DDA = UN Department of Disarmament Affairs

2. What is the Review Conference?
The RevCon, which takes place at UN headquarters in New York from 26 June to 7 July, is intended to assess progress in the implementation of the Programme of Action on Small Arms. As such, it represents a crucial opportunity to build on lessons learned in the past five year and look towards the future.

The PoA is a non-binding agreement agreed in 2001, based on knowledge and political priorities at that time. In the five years since then we have learned a great deal about the dynamics of small arms proliferation, how it affects communities, and what policies are needed to make people safer from gun violence. It has become clear that some aspects of the PoA need to be clarified and consolidated. For example, efforts to integrate armed violence reduction into development programs appear to show significant promise, rather than efforts being pursued in isolation.

The fundamental question at the RevCon will be how to incorporate this new knowledge into the next phase of international action against small arms proliferation and misuse. The division will be between (a) those States that want to apply the lessons learned over the past five years in order to improve implementation of the PoA and reduce armed violence; and (b) those that want to limit the discussion strictly to the words of the original PoA text, regardless of its effectiveness.

IANSA members, along with many governments, have been pushing for the agenda at the RevCon to include discussion on some important topics that were inadequately covered in the original PoA. Unfortunately the preparatory meeting (PrepCom) in January made little progress. (Read IANSA’s report of the PrepCom here.) The RevCon now presents a crucial opportunity to ensure that in the next five to six years the UN small arms process is focussed on actually making people safer.

The designated President of the RevCon is Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lanka’s representative in New York. He has developed a draft ‘outcome document’ for the conference which includes references to some of the issues of concern to IANSA. During the two weeks of the meeting, Member States will negotiate amendments to this draft to produce the official RevCon outcome document. IANSA members can influence this process by providing their governments with information, ideas and arguments from IANSA’s materials.

3. What has IANSA been doing to prepare for the Review Conference?

a) Priority issues and position papers
Volunteers from policy organisations within the IANSA network have formed five thematic working groups to write five IANSA position papers for use by the President-designate of the RevCon (Ambassador Kariyawasam) and other diplomats. Four substantive and one procedural issue have been selected as the focus of IANSA’s advocacy efforts:

• International transfer controls
• National firearms regulations
• Survivor assistance
• Development
• Follow-on mechanisms

The position papers and their recommendations represent the combined knowledge of a huge cross-section of NGOs working on different aspects of the small arms issue. The five papers have been distributed to the network, together with advocacy tools to assist in your meetings with government officials. These documents are available in English, French or Spanish, via the links at the end of this bulletin.

We also have a UN Process group whose responsibilities include:

• Writing these UN Bulletins
• Coordinating thematic side events on the five priority issues
• Coordinating the NGO presentation at the RevCon
• Coordinating daily NGO meetings during the RevCon

b) Responding to the draft outcome document from the President-designate
Ambassador Kariyawasam engaged in extensive consultation on the first draft of his Outcome document, seeking comments and suggestions in writing as well as holding several meetings with stakeholders. The IANSA working groups prepared a coordinated response based on our position papers. Ambassador Kariyawasam released a further draft of his document on 18 May, and IANSA once again provided a detailed response. After sending the response to the President-designate, we also made it available to diplomats in the small arms process. If you are meeting with government officials between now and the RevCon, please email alun@iansa.org to request a copy of IANSA’s response.

c) Participation in regional preparatory meetings

i) Consultations and meetings with the President-designate

South and South-East Asia Regional Consultation
Twenty governments from across South and South-East Asia gathered in Bangkok from 17-19 May at a regional preparation conference for the RevCon. Both regions re-stated their commitment to fully implement the Programme of Action, and re-emphasised the importance of technical and financial assistance to their national and regional efforts on the PoA. However on a range of issues, including transfer controls, there was a reluctance to elaborate on the Programme of Action's commitments.

Latin America Regional Consultation
Almost all governments from Latin America attended a meeting on 2-4 May in La Antigua, Guatemala, in order to agree a common position for the RevCon with Ambassador Kariyawasam in attendance. The meeting was closed to NGOs. Government representatives worked until 01:30 negotiating a regional common position, which includes recognition of the need to regulate small arms in civilian hands, and of the need to further develop the PoA’s provisions on transfers.

Geneva Forum Consultation
Representatives of 24 governments that participate in the Geneva Forum on small arms met with Ambassador Kariyawasam in Glion, Switzerland on 29-30 May. UN agencies and NGOs also participated in the meeting which was a final consultation on the President-designate’s draft outcome document.

ii) IANSA regional workshops

Training workshop for African NGOs
As part of regional NGO consultations in preparation for the RevCon, IANSA and the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) in South Africa organised a meeting in Tshwane (Pretoria) on 15-17 May. There were 30 participants from civil society organisations in 12 countries. The meeting provided background on the UN small arms process, preparations for the RevCon, and updates on the Global Week of Action. Participants discussed the African Common Position to the RevCon, which was adopted in Windhoek (Namibia) on 16 December 2005. The workshop was followed by a meeting of the IANSA Women’s Network.

Latin American planning meeting
IANSA members from 25 countries in Latin America met in Bogotá, Colombia on 3-7 April for the launch of the regional network, CLAVE (Coalición Latinoamericana para la Prevención de la Violencia Armada). The meeting agreed on priority activities in the lead-up to the Review conference and beyond. The week also included a one-day seminar on gun violence in Colombia and a meeting of the IANSA Women’s Network.

iii) Other thematic meetings

Nairobi transfer controls meeting
Representatives of many governments as well as IANSA members met in Nairobi on 20-21 April to agree a draft text on global guidelines for national controls governing transfers of small arms and light weapons. The agreed text reflects States’ existing responsibilities under international law and is largely consistent with the Global Principles being promoted by IANSA members. The participants agreed to recommend the draft text to their capitals and to send written submissions to Ambassador Kariyawasam to secure a reference to global guidelines in his final draft outcome document.

Helsinki meeting of governments and NGOs
The Biting the Bullet project and the Government of Finland held a meeting on 8-9 May, in Helsinki, which was attended by 20 countries, several international organisations, as well as civil society representatives. The meeting highlighted where consensus might lie at the RevCon. For example, strengthening stockpile management and security seemed ripe for discussion, as was linking developmental issues with small arms. Discussion of transfer controls was fairly positive with many governments favouring the Nairobi text as a starting point for elaboration. There was fairly strong consensus that follow-up meetings after the RevCon are expected, however that these must have a strong mandate and be of a practical nature.

Expert seminar on development and small arms
The expert seminar ‘Integrating Development into the UN Programme of Action Process’ was held in Oslo on 22–23 March 2006, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway and the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers. It intended to elaborate proposals on how the PoA can address the negative impacts of small-arms proliferation and violence on sustainable development. Some 70 experts from 23 countries identified and agreed 45 recommendations. These fed into the work of the IANSA thematic group on development and the IANSA reply to the President-designate’s non-paper.

Firearms injury prevention conference
Public health experts from around the world attended a meeting "Driving Change: Developing Firearms Policies for Safer Societies", in Durban, South Africa, from 31 March to 1 April, organised by the Institute for Security Studies. They discussed how to use health research to produce policies for reducing gun violence.

4. IANSA activities at the RevCon

These will include:

a) Orientation meeting
This will take place on Sunday 25 June, the day before the RevCon begins, and will include information about the meeting, how to lobby, and how to talk to the media.

b) IANSA newsletter
We will publish a newsletter every two days throughout the RevCon. It will be given to diplomats at the meeting, and will be available on our website for you to download and use with your media contacts at home. Please contact anthea@iansa.org if you would like to help with the newsletter.

c) NGO presentation
The UN Working Group is coordinating a process to plan content and participation in the NGO presentation. Emails will be sent to all NGOs attending the RevCon inviting them to nominate speakers; the thematic working groups will prepare content focused on IANSA’s priority issues. Adele Kirsten is coordinating this process: noguns@global.co.za

d) Side events
The thematic working groups are coordinating side events on IANSA’s five priority issues. For more information contact Doug Tuttle at ISS in South Africa: dtuttle@issafrica.org

e) Morning and evening NGO briefings
Members of the working groups will coordinate NGO briefings at the beginning and end of each day.

f) Coordination of advocacy activities
The IANSA Secretariat is currently collecting information about government positions on IANSA’s key priority issues, which will form the basis for a coordinated lobbying strategy during the meeting.

Further details of each of these activities will be sent by email to those attending the RevCon.

5. What can IANSA members do between now and the RevCon?
Whether or not you are coming to the RevCon, there is vital work to do in the next few weeks:

a) Sign on to the Durban statement, calling on governments attending the RevCon to recognise that gun violence injuries, disabilities and deaths are preventable through coordinated action; that multisectoral approaches are vital, particularly from the involvement of public health, law enforcement, justice, and development communities; and that attention needs to be paid to the survivors of gun violence. IANSA is calling on all of its members to endorse and sign the statement that is online here.

b) Analyse your country’s positions on IANSA’s priority issues (see point 3a), based on information you have gathered in your lobbying meetings as well as the public positions the government has taken. Government statements from the PrepCom are online here. A useful summary is available here.

• Is your government supportive of each of IANSA’s positions?
• If not, do you know why?

c) Use this information to build on the success of the Global Week of Action and keep the pressure on. You can do this by:

• Advocacy – hold meetings with government officials to talk about your government’s position on IANSA’s priority issues. Use the IANSA position papers for background, and the letter that was sent by IANSA to Ambassador Kariyawasam at the end of May for specific recommendations. The position papers and lobbying points are available in English, French and Spanish; if you do not have a copy of the papers or the letter, please email alun@iansa.org
• Media work – IANSA has produced a new report, called 2006: Bringing the global gun crisis under control. It provides a clear overview of the small arms problem and of what governments must do at the RevCon. The report and its associated materials are available in English, Spanish and French here. You can use the report and materials to ensure that your journalist contacts are aware of the importance of the RevCon. If you would like advice on how to use it, or how to talk to journalists about the RevCon, please contact anthea@iansa.org

6. What can IANSA members do during the RevCon?
We can only provide funding for a few IANSA members to attend the RevCon. Even if you have not secured other sources of funding and will therefore not personally attend the meeting in New York, there is vital work to be done in your country during the RevCon, particularly with the media. It is very important for government representatives to see the conference being followed and reported in the media, so they realise the public is aware of what they are negotiating at the UN.

We will send you regular updates from New York about progress at the meeting in the form of a newsletter that will be available on the website, and you can use this information to update journalists in your country. It is important to notify journalists about the RevCon before it actually starts, so that they are not taken by surprise when you send them information during the conference. You start now by bringing their attention to IANSA’s new report 2006: Bringing the global gun crisis under control (see point 5c).

7. Useful documents

New IANSA report and media pack.

Latest letter to Ambassador Kariyawasam.

IANSA’s report of the PrepCom.

Suggested global guidelines for transfer controls (from Nairobi meeting, May 2006): http://www.iansa.org/un/review2006/documents/english/Outcome-of-the-Nairobi-Transfers-meeting-Apr06.pdf

Latin America common position, from Antigua meeting (May 2006).

Integrating development into the PoA process (Oslo recommendations, March 2006).

Outcome of South and SE Asia regional meeting:
(South Asia)
(SE Asia)