IANSA Update 17 April 2009

US-OAS: Obama asks senate to ratify Inter-American Firearms Treaty, but not assault weapon ban
Togo: North, Central and West African NGO meeting on ATT ahead of UNIDIR meeting in Senegal
Colombia: Central American government seminar on armed violence and development
Angola: IANSA members advise on disarmament and transitional justice
US: anniversaries of Virginia Tech and Columbine mass shootings
Other news: jobs at UNDP in Burundi and Mozambique; WN bulletin no 18

US-OAS: Obama asks senate to ratify Inter-American Firearms Treaty, but not assault weapon ban
The president of the United States has announced that he will push the US Senate to ratify the Inter-American convention on small arms trafficking. President Obama announced his intention after discussing the flow of US guns across its southern border with President Calderón of Mexico. Mr Obama accepted shared US responsibility for gun violence in Mexico, which has killed more than 6000 people over the last year, but has not yet made clear moves towards reinstating the Assault Weapon Ban. Assault weapons and firearms over .30 calibre cannot be purchased in Mexico, but traffickers regularly purchase such weapons by the truckload from gun stores in Texas and Arizona to smuggle to the drug cartels. Presidents Obama and Calderón are now attending the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, where IANSA members are calling for all member states of the Organisation of American States (OAS) to prioritize armed violence reduction in the region as a matter of urgency. Read more here.

Togo: North, Central and West African NGO meeting on ATT ahead of UNIDIR meeting in Senegal
IANSA members from 19 countries in central, north and west Africa attended a campaign workshop on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at the UN regional centre for disarmament (UNREC) in Lomé (Togo), 15-16 April. The Togo Minister of Foreign Affairs opened the meeting, stressing the importance of an ATT to prevent future conflicts in Africa. The participants committed to advocacy with their governments before the upcoming regional governmental ATT meeting organised by UNIDIR on 28-29 April in Dakar (Senegal). The seminar was organised by IANSA with UNREC and the West African Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA)

Colombia: Central American government seminar on armed violence and development
Government representatives from Central America, Colombia, Cuba and the Dominican Republic will attend a seminar on armed violence and development in Cartagena (Colombia), 20-23 April. The meeting has been organised by the UN regional centre for disarmament in Latin America (UNLiREC), the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNDP as a follow-up to the Guatemala Declaration on Armed Violence in 2005. Many IANSA members will be attending, including César Marín on behalf of the Secretariat. Themes discussed will include gender, transborder crime and the role of private security companies.

Angola: IANSA members advise on disarmament and transitional justice
IANSA members from VivaRio (Brazil) have been meeting members in Luanda, Angola to help forge links between Angolan civil society and the Angolan Commission on Civilian Disarmament. VivaRio are using examples from the Brazilian process on small arms control to show how civil society can help implement disarmament initiatives.

US: anniversaries of Virginia Tech and Columbine mass shootings
IANSA members are marking the second anniversary of the worst mass shooting by a single gunman in US history, when 32 people were killed at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia on 16 April, 2007; and the 10th anniversary of the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, on 20 April 1999 in which 13 people were murdered. Campaigners in the US are appealing to President Obama to reinstate the ban on assault weapons, such as the ones used by the two gunmen in the Columbine mass shooting. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is also calling for Obama to close a loophole in the federal law which permits unlicensed sellers at gun shows to sell guns without conducting background criminal and mental health checks.
Virginia Tech
Columbine

Other news

• The Women's Network April 2009 Bulletin is now available in English, French and Spanish. Read more here.
• There are vacancies at UNDP in Burundi and Mozambique. Please see the IANSA Job Board for details.
  

Please send your stories on developments in small arms from around the world to louise.rimmer@iansa.org

Join the IANSA Women's Network: email women@iansa.org

Join the Million Faces petition in support of a global Arms Trade Treaty