TALKING POINTS
FOR
AMBASSADOR TOM AMOLO
DIRECTOR FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS,
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA
ON THE
OCCASION OF THE MEETING ENTITLED
“NEXT STEPS TOWARDS AN EFFECTIVE
ARMS TRADE TREATY”
TUESDAY 23RD OCTOBER, 2007
A year ago today, Kenya’s Foreign Minister Hon. Raphael Tuju
1. Kenya is proud to have been among the original co-authors of the resolution on an Arms Trade Treaty, which was adopted by an overwhelming 153 States at the 61st UNGA. We have been extremely gratified and encouraged by the equally strong show of support by Member States in responding to the Secretary General’s call for views on the ATT. The submission of views from 97 States, to our mind, expresses a clear will by governments to address the issue of illicit arms. We will fully support the work of the upcoming Group of Government Experts (GGE) so that we may arrive at an effective ATT.
2. As we have indicated in our submission to the Secretary General, there already exists a number of legally binding international agreements as well as political frameworks which can be used as building blocs towards a universal agreement. Indeed the fact that there are a host of regional and sub-regional initiatives all geared towards controlling arms transfers demonstrates that the will already exists among states, what is now required and that is what we are advocating for through the ATT initiative is to pool all these synergies into one global legally binding instrument that we all can refer to.
3. Kenya holds the view that to have an effective instrument the treaty should be able to address any international transfers of any conventional arm. In this case the UN Conventional Arms Register could be a good basis to build upon.
4. We have also spelt out in our response to the Secretary General that decisions on weapons transfers should remain under national jurisdiction, however the responsibilities of states and the factors to be considered when deciding to allow a transfer or not should be clearly brought out in the ATT. We have pointed out that states would need to adhere to UN charter obligations as well as the respect for human rights and international humanitarian law. Lastly it would be important that provisions be made for international support for national implementation of a future ATT.
5. Kenya being at the epicenter of armed conflicts, we know first hand the devastating effect of the irresponsible movement of arms. The proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons in our region has fueled urban crime and caused a general state of insecurity. Scarce resources have had to be channeled to fight insecurity at the expense of the development agenda.
6. We are perfectly aware that those who are skeptical of the ATT initiative, may be moved by security and business concerns but looking at the bigger, sadder practice of death and suffering, occasioned by the irresponsible transfer of these weapons we should all be able to work together to find a practical solution to the problem and the ATT initiative so far appears to be the most promising development in the fight against the uncontrolled trade in arms.
Thank you. |
