The Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC), with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, developed the Workshop on the Evaluation of Conventional Arms Transfers, with special focus on the gender criterion outlined in the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
The Workshop took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on 21 and 22 November, and it was aimed at representatives of the national institutions responsible for authorizing arms transfers, as well as those institutions or departments with jurisdiction and knowledge in matters concerning human rights, international humanitarian law, gender and childhood. Authorities and civil servants from the Chancellery of El Salvador, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the General Directorate of Customs, the National Council for Childhood and Adolescence and the Armed Violence Survivors Network also participated.
During the Workshop, the main obligations of the ATT were addressed, especially those related to export assessment, with particular attention being placed on art. 7.4 of the treaty and the layers of protection for gender and childhood which can be applied in an export control system.
Based on the theoretic instruction received and the evaluation of two fictitious cases focused on the gender criterion outlined in the Treaty, participants assessed the risk of conventional arms and other elements included in the Treaty being used to commit or facilitate serious acts of gender-based violence or serious acts of violence against women and children. Thanks to the wide variety of institutions participating and the ideas shared throughout the day, the Workshop made it possible to identify future challenges and areas for joint effort to strengthen export risk controls and assessments.
Since 2015 UNLIREC has been supporting El Salvadorian efforts to effectively implement the Arms Trade Treaty through various projects. This Workshop is part of the regional Project entitled Women, Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Arms Control, through which UNLIREC contributes to the implementation of Resolution 65/69 of the United Nations General Assembly.
The implementation of this Project is possible thanks to financial support from the Government of Canada.