Knowledge Is The Key To Action

Mombasa Plan of Action on Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons Reduction

Introduction
Subsequent to the Nairobi Declaration of March 15, 2000, on the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa region, signed by 10 Member States, UNDP in partnership with AWEPA organized a parliamentary conference on illicit small arms sensitization, awareness and reduction in Mombasa from the 26th-28th of November 2003.

In this regard, the conference brought together delegations from the Parliaments of Burundi, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and from the East African Legislative Assembly, including representatives of the civil society from the region and Parliamentarians from Europe.

The conference recognized the international conventions and agreements on issues related to small arms and fully shared the growing international concern that easy accessibility to illicit small arms and light weapons escalates conflicts and undermines political stability, and has devastating impacts on human security and development. When populations continue to live in great poverty, under social injustice and inequitable distribution of resources efforts to reduce small arms and light weapons will not be achieved.

With respect to the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons the conference has at length debated on the following themes:

Poverty, social and economic injustice, Good governance, Security Corruption at State and other levels (State brokering, use of brokers by states), Porous borders, cattle rustling Unstable states, Proxy wars, restriction of supply to non-state actors, arms manufacturers and unscrupulous middlemen, Weak legal and institutional frameworks (structure, human resources, sustainability), Inadequate legislation, Demobilisation, reintegration of ex-combatants, exilees, and displaced persons, Source of weapons and weapons surplus.

The participants to the Parliamentary Conference agree on the following Plan of Action :

1) To create a Regional Inter-Parliamentary Network to lobby and influence issues related to armed violence and calls on the UNDP and AWEPA to support this initiative;
2) To review and amend if necessary existing national legislation and to support the harmonization of laws as called for in the agenda for action of the Nairobi Declaration;
3) To promote ongoing international action in the United Nations framework with the aim of developing and adopting a binding international agreement on the marking, record keeping, and tracing of small arms and an international arms trade treaty;
4) To strengthen the capacities of Parliaments in order to improve the ability to review and harmonize legislation,
5) To harmonize legislation on border controls;
6) To accelerate the establishment of National Focal Points where they do not exist, and strengthen the already existing National Focal Points in accordance with the Nairobi Declaration agenda for action,
7) Welcome the expressed wish on behalf of the delegates from the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic to for their respective countries to join the Nairobi Declaration,
8) To take action in our respective Parliaments including but not limited to:
a) Becoming stakeholders of the Nairobi Declaration and strongly supporting executive action in its implementation;
b) Creation of ad-hoc committees seized of the small arms issue;
c) Asking questions of the executive in Parliament;
d) Asking the responsible Minister and relevant Committees to report regularly to Parliament in plenary or in Committee on the activities of the National Focal Point Coordinators for the Nairobi Declaration;
e) Identifying pertinent small arms issues and their underlying causes in the members' constituencies and propose means to Parliament or the relevant Minister to address these issues;
f) Proposing private members' bills to address the issues;
g) Requesting that small arms issues be placed on the Parliamentary agenda for debate;
h) Interacting regularly with the media on small arms issues in order to raise visibility and understanding of the issues.
9) To call on European MPs including members of AWEPA to;
a) Critically study the legislation and factual situations in their respective home countries as to the regime governing manufacturing, marking, trade, brokering and export of arms;
b) Draw the attention of their governments on UNDP involvement in small arms issues from a development perspective and lobby for increased support for such programmes;
c) Call on AWEPA to raise the matter with the appropriate European Parliamentary bodies such as the European Parliament and the Parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe and to envisage a follow-up conference.
10) To seek the active involvement and collaboration of Civil Society in the pursuance of these efforts,
11) To seek sanctions against the users and suppliers of illicit arms and States who promote these type of practices
Participants of this conference agree to report about the actions they will have undertaken pursuant to this plan of action within three months time, at the latest by 29 February 2004.

Finally, the participants of this conference wish to thank the host country Kenya and to thank UNDP and AWEPA for having co-organized the conference.

~Mombasa, Kenya, 28 November 2003 (Dated but a Point to Note)