There are some major events and conferences happening right now that pertain to gun rights.
Before starting its negotiations on the four parts of its draft outcome document, the Review Conference of the Program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons first concluded the general debate it had been holding since Monday. This morning, she heard several representatives of civil society defending individuals' access to light weapons, arguing for the individual right to self-defence.
The representative of " Canada's National Firearms Association" said that citizens' access to weapons could have helped to limit the number of victims of murders encouraged by government authorities in Srebrenica, in the former Yugoslavia or in Rwanda. "The assumption that citizen possession of weapons is a security threat is contradicted by facts and history," added the representative of the "World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities (WFSA)". . Her counterpart from the Second Amendment Foundation said she was struck that the Review Conference did not emphasize women's right to own guns to protect themselves from sexual violence.
Rather rallying the point of view of the majority of the delegations, during these two days of debate, the representative of the International Network on Small Arms/Gabon considered it essential to integrate the question of ammunition into the Program of Action as well as than more robust measures for border control.
After concluding its general debate, the Review Conference began consideration of the four parts of the draft outcome document on the "2012 Declaration", intended to reaffirm support for all provisions of the Program of Action and the International Instrument for the Marking and Tracing of Small Arms; the Program of Action Implementation Plan for the period from 2012 to 2018; the Implementation Plan of the International Instrument for the same period; and the calendar of meetings between 2012 and 2018 * .
The facilitator of the negotiations and representative of Guyana said that she had received a lot of feedback on the Implementation Plan of the Program of Action for the period 2012-2018. States, she understood, seemed to want to clearly reaffirm the objectives of the Program of Action, given the persistence of the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.
She also noted the numerous calls for strengthening cooperation with international organizations such as INTERPOL and noted the desire to emphasize greater participation of women and civil society in the implementation of the 'stock. She took note of the many requests concerning the establishment of mechanisms to better identify assistance needs or to provide support for the application of embargoes decreed by the United Nations. The Review Conference must clearly identify the gaps, challenges and issues that countries face in implementing the Program of Action, she agreed with delegations.
"Success is possible but we must be ambitious", she said, calling on delegations not to repeat the failure of the first Review Conference in 2006. The President of the 2012 edition indicated that a revised version of the four parts of the draft outcome document will be distributed by Wednesday 5 September, before adoption on 7 September, the day of the end of the work.
By unanimously adopting the "Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects" in 2001, United Nations Member States pledged to collect and destroy illegal arms, to adopt and approve national legislation that would penalize the illicit trade in small arms, to regulate the activities of brokers, to put in place strict import and export controls, to take measures against those who violate these laws, and, to this end, to better coordinate international efforts.
The adoption of the Program of Action was followed in 2005 by that of the “International instrument aimed at enabling States to carry out the rapid and reliable identification and tracing of small arms and light weapons”.
The next meeting of the Review Conference will be announced in the Journal of the United Nations. There are going to be many guest speakers attending the conference covering such topics as political rights, leadership, military, and cybersecurity. Also, Matthew McConaughey will be on stage at the event to give a speech on this topic. You can see a sample here.
Before starting its negotiations on the four parts of its draft outcome document, the Review Conference of the Program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons first concluded the general debate it had been holding since Monday. This morning, she heard several representatives of civil society defending individuals' access to light weapons, arguing for the individual right to self-defence.
The representative of " Canada's National Firearms Association" said that citizens' access to weapons could have helped to limit the number of victims of murders encouraged by government authorities in Srebrenica, in the former Yugoslavia or in Rwanda. "The assumption that citizen possession of weapons is a security threat is contradicted by facts and history," added the representative of the "World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities (WFSA)". . Her counterpart from the Second Amendment Foundation said she was struck that the Review Conference did not emphasize women's right to own guns to protect themselves from sexual violence.
Rather rallying the point of view of the majority of the delegations, during these two days of debate, the representative of the International Network on Small Arms/Gabon considered it essential to integrate the question of ammunition into the Program of Action as well as than more robust measures for border control.
After concluding its general debate, the Review Conference began consideration of the four parts of the draft outcome document on the "2012 Declaration", intended to reaffirm support for all provisions of the Program of Action and the International Instrument for the Marking and Tracing of Small Arms; the Program of Action Implementation Plan for the period from 2012 to 2018; the Implementation Plan of the International Instrument for the same period; and the calendar of meetings between 2012 and 2018 * .
The facilitator of the negotiations and representative of Guyana said that she had received a lot of feedback on the Implementation Plan of the Program of Action for the period 2012-2018. States, she understood, seemed to want to clearly reaffirm the objectives of the Program of Action, given the persistence of the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.
She also noted the numerous calls for strengthening cooperation with international organizations such as INTERPOL and noted the desire to emphasize greater participation of women and civil society in the implementation of the 'stock. She took note of the many requests concerning the establishment of mechanisms to better identify assistance needs or to provide support for the application of embargoes decreed by the United Nations. The Review Conference must clearly identify the gaps, challenges and issues that countries face in implementing the Program of Action, she agreed with delegations.
"Success is possible but we must be ambitious", she said, calling on delegations not to repeat the failure of the first Review Conference in 2006. The President of the 2012 edition indicated that a revised version of the four parts of the draft outcome document will be distributed by Wednesday 5 September, before adoption on 7 September, the day of the end of the work.
By unanimously adopting the "Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects" in 2001, United Nations Member States pledged to collect and destroy illegal arms, to adopt and approve national legislation that would penalize the illicit trade in small arms, to regulate the activities of brokers, to put in place strict import and export controls, to take measures against those who violate these laws, and, to this end, to better coordinate international efforts.
The adoption of the Program of Action was followed in 2005 by that of the “International instrument aimed at enabling States to carry out the rapid and reliable identification and tracing of small arms and light weapons”.
The next meeting of the Review Conference will be announced in the Journal of the United Nations. There are going to be many guest speakers attending the conference covering such topics as political rights, leadership, military, and cybersecurity. Also, Matthew McConaughey will be on stage at the event to give a speech on this topic. You can see a sample here.