Arms Trade Treaty Regional Actor Handbook
Asia & Oceania
- United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD)
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
- Pacific Islands Forum
- Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG)
United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD)
Region: Asia and the Pacific
Headquarters: Lalitpur, Nepal
Type of organization:
UN Regional Center
Number of Members:
43 members
%
Proportion of RO Members that are ATT States Parties: 28% (12 out of 43)
%
Proportion of RO Members that are ATT Signatories: 20% (9 out of 43)
List of members:
Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Burma (Myanmar), Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam
About the Organization
The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) was established pursuant to UNGA Resolution Resolution 42/39²⁰³ adopted in 1987.
The Centre assists countries in the region to achieve their peace, security, and disarmament goals through (1) the provision of capacity-building and technical assistance; (2) creation and participation in dialogues; and (3) engagement in outreach and advocacy relating to disarmament. In addition to these areas of focus, UNRCPD assists states in building their capacity to adopt and implement instruments and measures related to peace and disarmament, including UN Security Council Resolution 1540, the UN Program of Action on SALW and the associated international Tracing Instrument as well as the ATT; promotes peace and disarmament education; and coordinate regional activities in Asia and the Pacific.
Activities
ATT Support
UNRCPD has been working extensively to facilitate the provision of assistance to states in the region seeking to implement the ATT.²⁰⁴ Since 2013, over 20 national, sub-regional and regional trainings have been organized or co-organized by UNRCPD to promote the ATT at the regional level and assist states. Some examples include regional meetings to facilitate dialogue on the ATT in Manila and Kuala Lumpur in 2013²⁰⁵ and in Samoa in 2016,²⁰⁶ ATT workshops with national stakeholders such as the one in Indonesia in 2014²⁰⁷ and ATT Legal Assistance Workshops such as the one in Siem Reap in 2015.²⁰⁸ More recently, UNRCPD in cooperation with the Government of Kazakhstan and financial support from the ATT VTF, organized a workshop on “ATT Universalization and Implementation for Central Asia and Mongolia”. The workshop provided a forum for discussion on the benefits of joining the ATT, effects on other commitments of the States and transfer control, and worked to build the institutional capacity of the participating States for the future implementation of the Treaty.²⁰⁹
Similarly, in collaboration with civil society, specifically the Women for Peace and Democracy in Nepal (WPDN), UNRCPD organized in 2021 a national workshop to promote the ATT and support Nepal’s accession to the Treaty.²¹⁰ More recently, UNRCPD has focused its work on arms control instruments more broadly, including exploring synergies among relevant instruments, in particular between the UN Programme of Action on SALW and the ATT. For instance, through the project “Target Insight: Promoting ATT ratification and PoA implementation in the Asia-Pacific through building capacity and best practices”, UNRCPD has held a capacity-building workshop on the implementation of the UNPoA and the ATT in Bangladesh in 2015, a regional capacity building workshop on the Implementation of the ATT in Bangkok, Thailand in 2017²¹¹ and “Technical and Legal Assistance Projects” in Maldives in 2015²¹² and the Philippines in 2017.²¹³
Establishing Transfer Controls
National control systems
UNRCPD promotes the universalization and implementation of multilateral disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control instruments, providing programmes and activities. As part of this work, UNRCPD provides assistance to states to develop robust national control systems, including development and adoption of national control lists, strengthening recordkeeping and reporting capacities, developing transit and transshipment controls. For instance, in 2016, UNRCPD organized a workshop to assist relevant government ministries and agencies in enhancing national controls of SALW and implement the provisions of arms control instruments, including the ATT. The workshop focussed also on transfer controls.²¹⁴
Similarly, as part of its project “Building Capacity of States in Southeast Asia to Prevent Diversion and Reduce Illicit Small Arms and Conventional Ammunition”, UNRCPD organized in 2019 a training to develop “National Action Plans to Improve Implementation of the International Small Arms Control Standards,” which was held in Bangkok. The training also addressed transfer controls and transit and transshipment.²¹⁵
Legislative Assistance
UNRCPD provides technical and legal assistance to implement the UNPoA and the ATT at the national level, including baseline assessment, development of recommendations, and drafting of national action plans. While these relate directly to the implementation of the UN Programme of Action, the program is closely linked to theimplementation of the ATT as many of the standards and recommendations complement the ATT.²¹⁶ In
particular, between 2019 and 2020, at the request of Timor-Leste, UNRCPD also provided the government with
technical and legal assistance to support its possible future accession to the ATT.²¹⁷
Diversion Prevention
UNRCPD provides assistance with strengthening government efforts to address arms diversion and illicit trafficking. Some examples include a regional seminar in Phnom Penh in 2017 for Member States of ASEAN, focussed on the trafficking and diversion of SALW²¹⁸ and workshops on “Gun Violence and Illicit Small-Arms Trafficking from a Gender Perspective” held in Fiji and Nepal (see below). Similarly, as part of the “Building Capacity of States in Southeast Asia to Prevent Diversion and Reduce Illicit Small Arms and Conventional Ammunition” Project, in 2019 UNRCPD organized a training to develop “National Action Plans to Improve Implementation of the International Small Arms Control Standards’.²¹⁹ In collaboration with ASEAN, UNRCPD also organizes regional seminars for ASEAN Member States focused on strengthening subregional cooperation and coordination in preventing arms diversion and trafficking²²⁰ and undertakes efforts that require close cooperation with international law-enforcement agencies including INTERPOL.²²¹
Gender and Gender-based Violence
UNRCPD has also implemented projects focused on gender mainstreaming in small arms control. As part of the project “Gun Violence and Illicit Small-Arms Trafficking from a Gender Perspective” which aims to prevent the proliferation and misuse of SALW and to promote gender perspectives in arms control, UNRCPD organized workshops in Thailand and Nepal in 2018²²² and in Fiji and Nepal in 2019 and 2020.²²³ Similarly, through a project titled “Supporting gender-mainstreamed policies, programmes and actions in the fight against small-arms trafficking and misuse, in line with the Women, Peace and Security agenda” UNRCPD in partnership with UNODA and European Union, provided gender and small arms controls training in Bangladesh in 2022.²²⁴. Along with work on transfer control and border security, these workshops seek to highlight the importance and improve understanding of gender-responsive small arms control, including the implementation of the ATT provisions on GBV.²²⁵.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Region: Southeast Asia
Headquarters: Jakarta, Indonesia
Type of organization:
Regional Integration
Number of Members:
10 members
%
Proportion of RO Members that are ATT States Parties: 10% (1 out of 10)
%
Proportion of RO Members that are ATT Signatories: 30% (3 out of 10)
List of members:
Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Brunei, Laos
About the Organization
As set out in the ASEAN Declaration, the organization’s objectives include promoting regional peace and stability. ASEAN first acknowledged the need to address the threat of arms trafficking at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in 1997. In the same year, ASEAN Member States signed the Declaration on Transnational Crime²²⁶ at the inaugural ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC). The AMMTC aims to tackle eight areas of transnational crime, including terrorism and arms smuggling.
In 2017, the Working Group on Arms Smuggling was established as part of the ASEAN Preparatory Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC) to serve as a platform to exchange information among member states in an effort to stop arms smuggling in the region. The scope of the Working Group is to: (a) facilitate information sharing on arms smuggling related issues such as trends, best practices, and new techniques and tools; (b) establish regular points of contact for arms smuggling cooperation; (c) develop capability building and training initiatives; (d) identify critical areas for collaboration within the ASEAN Member States and with Dialogue Partners on arms smuggling; and (e) explore possible collaboration with strategic private sector partners; and (f) foster cooperation to stop the cross-border flow illicit firearms.²²⁷
The issue of arms smuggling is also touched upon in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) as part of the cooperation on Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) and Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (NPD). In 2002, ASEAN adopted the Work Programme to Implement the ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime, in which Member States identified priorities to make progress in combating arms trafficking. The ASEAN Convention on Counter-Terrorism (ACCT) adopted in 2007 commits Member States to enhancing cross-border cooperation and information sharing. Member States reaffirmed their commitment to work towards the elimination of the smuggling of SALW in the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Combating Transnational Crime adopted in 2015.
Activities
ATT Support
As conventional arms controls appear only tangentially in the Blueprint and membership in the ATT remains low in the sub-region, ASEAN has had very limited engagement with the Treaty. However, as part of the United Nations Trust Facility Supporting Cooperation on Arms Regulation (UNSCAR)-funded project “Connecting the dots: Supporting SDG 16, ATT and UNPoA Implementation Through Increased Parliamentary Engagement And Action In International Processes”, in 2018 the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly²³⁰ held a regional seminar in Indonesia, in cooperation with the Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PFSALW). The goal was to increase parliamentary understanding, participation and ownership in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.4, UNPoA, and ATT.²³¹ Building on this initial work, in 2022 the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), in collaboration with PFSALW organized a three-day regional seminar on “Parliamentary Action for Prevention of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW)-related Violence” in Indonesia which included information and discussions on the Ninth Conference of States Parties to the ATT in 2023.²³²
Establishing Transfer Controls
Diversion Prevention
As diversion of arms remains a key challenge for the region, the ASEAN Plan of Action in Combating Transnational Crime was adopted in 2017 to promote cooperation in this area between 2016 and 2025. The 2022 Work Programme to Implement the ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime proposes several relevant areas of work including exchange of information and capacity building activities for law enforcement officials, promotion of cooperation with external partners, harmonization of marking systems for ammunition, arms, their parts and their components in line with the international system developed under the Firearms Protocol, development of comprehensive domestic legislation against illicit arms trafficking, compiling and keeping the data on arms destroyed, missing and lost from government stockpiles and encourage the implementation of the UNPoA. These initiatives have the potential to contribute to the implementation of Article 11 of the ATT which requires states to take measures to prevent diversion (ATT Art. 11.1) and to cooperate and exchange information to mitigate the risk of diversion of the transfer of conventional arms (ATT Art 11. 3).
In this regard, in 2021, the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly in cooperation with PFSALW organized a webinar to promote the implementation of the UN PoA and the 2030 Agenda in relation to the UNSC Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). The objective was to enhance implementation of the instruments by parliamentary action through capacity-building, policy-shaping and awareness-raising. The issue of diversion was also addressed.²³³
Pacific Islands Forum
Region: Pacific
Headquarters: Suva, Fiji
Type of organization:
Regional Integration
Number of Members:
18 members
%
Proportion of RO Members that are ATT States Parties: 33% (6 out of 18 states)
%
Proportion of RO Members that are ATT Signatories: 16% (3 out of 18 states)
List of members:
Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu
About the Organization
The Pacific Islands Forum, founded in 1971, is the region’s principal political and economic policy organization. The Forum’s vision is to create a region of peace, harmony, security, social inclusion and prosperity by fostering cooperation between governments, collaboration with international agencies, and by representing the interests of its members. The work of the Forum is guided by the Framework for Pacific Regionalism, endorsed by Forum Leaders in July 2014,²³⁴ which sets out the strategic vision, values, objectives and approaches to achieve deeper regionalism in the Pacific.
The Forum Regional Security Committee (FRSC) is the primary body addressing regional law enforcement and security issues. FRSC oversaw the development of the document “Towards a Common Approach to Weapons Control (Nadi Framework)”, which was adopted in 2000.²³⁵ The Nadi Framework is “premised on two basic ideas: that the possession and use of firearms, ammunition, other related material, and prohibited weapons is a privilege that is conditional on the overriding need to ensure public safety, and that public safety will be enhanced by imposing harmonized
controls on the importation, possession, and use of these commodities”.²³⁶
Specific to arms transfer controls, the Nadi Framework encourages Member States to:
- establish and maintain “an effective system of export, import and transshipment of firearms, ammunitions, explosives, other related materials and prohibited weapons”;
- to notify one another when firearms, explosives, other related materials and prohibited weapons are in transit through their respective territories;
- and to harmonize the export, import, transit and transshipment requirements under their respective weapons legislations with domestic laws relating to customs requirements.
Activities
ATT Support
Prior to the Treaty’s adoption, the Pacific Island Forum played a key role in developing a regional position on an ATT and to ensure a strong and proactive voice of its Member States in the negotiations process.²³⁷ Since then, the Forum has contributed to efforts to universalize and implement the ATT, including through workshops and events on this topic. For instance, in 2014 UNRCPD in collaboration with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the ICRC organized a regional legal assistance workshop on the ATT that was held in Cambodia in support of ATT universalization.²³⁸
Establishing Transfer Controls
Legislative Assistance
In 2003 the members of the Pacific Island Forum adopted the Model Weapons Control Bill for the Pacific. The Bill, which was then amended in 2010, was designed to help Member States improve the arms control legislation. It includes among others a list of prohibited weapons which cannot be used, imported or exported except by the police or defense force as well as import and export rules. This model bill is an important foundation on which Pacific Island States can build to implement the ATT.²³⁹ In 2014, the Forum also endorsed an ATT Model Law, which was designed for the specific needs and capacities of Pacific Island countries to help them accede to the ATT.²⁴⁰
Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG)
Region: Melanesia
Headquarters: Port Vila, Vunuatu
Type of organization:
Regional Integration
Number of Members:
4 members, plus 1 associate and 2 observers
%
Proportion of RO Members that are ATT States Parties: None
%
Proportion of RO Members that are ATT Signatories: 25% (1 out of 4)
List of members:
Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
About the Organization
The MSG was founded in 1983 to promote economic growth among member countries through trade and economic cooperation, cultural exchanges, and policy convergence. The MSG Political and Security Affairs (PSA) Programme is responsible for monitoring political and security developments in the region and providing appropriate advice on relevant issues to ensure a stable and peaceful Melanesia. Its strategic priorities are centered on democratic processes supporting elections; peace and security issues; and humanitarian and emergency response coordination. In 2015 the MSG agreed to establish a Regional Police Academy and Formed Police Unit to provide a platform for capacity building, technical training, and police cooperation among Member States.²⁴²
Activities
ATT Support
Arms control is a key area of work for the MSG Secretariat, including advancing the universalization and implementation of the ATT among its Member States. Since the Treaty’s adoption, MSG has hosted regular meetings on ATT. In 2012, the MSG Secretariat in cooperation with the Government of Luxembourg organized a workshop on the ATT to support states’ engagement in the two conferences for the adoption of the ATT.²⁴³ The results of this workshop were presented in April 2014 to the MSG’s 11th Sub-Committee on Security meeting, which supported the elaboration of a common position on the ATT.²⁴⁴ In 2015, in partnership with the Pacific Small Arms Action Group (PSAAG), the MSG held a workshop on the PoA and ATT, focusing on reporting mechanisms, ratification, and implementation of the instruments.²⁴⁵ In 2017, in cooperation with PSAAG and the Stimson Center, the MSG conducted national workshops on UNPoA and ATT and a region-wide workshop in Vanuatu.²⁴⁶ The workshops focused on regional coordination and on identifying key elements for a formalized regional network structure.²⁴⁷
