At 4th UN Review Conference: CAMYOSFOP boss makes recommendations for implementing Programme of Action against SALWs.

He made the recommendations Thursday June 20 while delivering a presentation at the ongoing Fourth Review Conference on the UN Programme of SALWs, in New York, USA.

Ngalim disclosed that in Africa, the African Union, AU, through the Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security, PAPS; the Africa Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council, ECOSOCC; the Regional Centre on Small Arms in the Great Lakes, Horn of Africa, and Neighbouring States, RECSA; and the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa, UNREC; have been instrumental in facilitating CAMYOSFOP’s work with the member states of Africa Union. 

“More particularly, CAMYOSFOP as a CSO working with the member states of the Economic Community of Central Africa States, ECCAS, also benefits from this cordial relationship with the state of Cameroon, ECCAS, and United Nations Office in Central Africa, UNOCA,” he said. 

The CAMYOSFOP Executive Director noted that: “Thanks to UNSCAR and other funding windows, since 2016 we have been able to develop tools, engage and strengthen the capacities of the member states of ECCAS in the following domains: strengthening the operational and technical capacities of the States Parties of the Kinshasa Convention on the implementation of the Convention and the PoA through the MOSAIC modules, data collection on SDG target 16.4.2 on SALW and the ITI, Physical Security and Stockpile Management of Weapons, developing a joint reporting mechanism for the PoA and the Kinshasa convention”. 

He added that they have also been working in “mainstreaming women and youth in the control of SALW through the SALIENT project in Cameroon, fast tracking the universalisation and implementation of the ATT in Cameroon through the VTF, and the implementation of the Africa Amnesty month on the voluntary collection of weapons that culminated to the first ever gun destruction in Cameroon on May 19, 2021”. 

“In 2022, CAMYOSFOP, in partnership with the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, IRIC, UNREC, RECSA, and AU ECOSOCC initiated an annual certified course on the Diplomacy of Arms Control, non – Proliferation, and Disarmament for mid-term executives and the civil society. During the past two editions 40 participants were trained on SALW and Diversion in 2022, and mainstreaming gender in the control of SALW in 2023. This year, the course will be focused on Weapons and Ammunition management in the context of Disarmament, Demobilisation and reintegration, DDR,” he said. 

Recommendations to improve PoA & ITI implementation

Ngalim stated that in spite of these efforts, Africa still lags behind in many other domains in the implementation of PoA and other related instruments on SALW. He those made recommendations to improve on the implementations. 

These, he stated, include: “Assistance in the establishment and strengthening of existing national Commissions on SALW (NatComs), national and regional action plans, roadmaps and targets for the efficient control of SALW. States with NatComs have done better in the management of their weapons and especially in reporting on the PoA and other related instruments on SALW”.

Other recommendations he made include: “Mainstreaming of UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and UNSCR 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security in every policy on SALW”.

The CAMYOSFOP Executive Director also called for the revision of the PoA/ITI and related regional instruments in addressing new technologies and ammunitions to facilitate marking and tracing, requested African states to consider the implementation of the Africa Amnesty Month as a pathway to the voluntary handing of illegal weapons for destruction, thus silencing the guns in the continent.

“In central Africa, there is an urgent need for the establishment of a coordinating Secretariat for the implementation of the Kinshasa Convention in order to boost progress on the implementation of the convention. Member states should take advantage of programmes like the certified course on arms control initiated by my organisation, CAMYOSFOP, to build capacities in the various domains of arms control. The programme should be privileged for sponsorship and other funding facilities by the UN and other donor partners in the domain of arms control,” he affirmed. 

He also called for the valourisation of civil society capacities and putting into use by member states in facilitating the implementation of the PoA.

Ngalim, it should be noted, is also a member of the International Action Network on Small Arms, IANSA, and the Coordinator of the Certified Course on the Diplomacy of Arms Control, Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, DACPD, in Cameroon.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3149 of Tuesday June 25, 2024