About ATT Academy
The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) Academy brings a new approach to learning about the ATT and its implementation. It provides an in-depth and tailored learning opportunity to carefully selected participants, all of whom engage directly with the ATT in their work as government, or as part of civil society. It also provides an opportunity to explore linkages to other relevant arms, security development instruments, and enables discussion and analysis of regionally-specific issues, such as the link between wildlife crime and small arms proliferation.
While many training opportunities have emerged over the last year or two, the ATT Academy is unique in being a continuous six-month learning opportunity. This enables participants to have a thorough and technical understanding of the Treaty, and to have on-the-job support. The second in-person training is designed to specifically explore and tackle problems which participants identify, as they apply the knowledge gained to their day to day work. In this way, the ATT Academy is much more than a one-off training – it is a sustained and practical learning programme.
The ATT Academy is organized by the Control Arms Secretariat. For over a decade, Control Arms and its members have been providing support and information to States of all regions in the development and eventual adoption of the ATT, and now in its universalization and implementation.
2019 ATT Academy in Southern Africa
The 2019 ATT Academy in Southern Africa took place in Windhoek, Namibia and brought together 35 participants from Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. It provided a forum for those working closely with arms trade issues nationally to discuss with their regional counterparts the potential linkages between the Arms Trade Treaty and issues specific to the sub-region. For the Southern Africa training, these issues included wildlife poaching and gender-based violence.
The ATT Academy is a joint project organized by the Namibian Ministry of Defence and Control Arms, with funding from the Voluntary Trust Fund and support from the International Human Rights Clinic at the Harvard Law School.
2018 ATT Academy Latin America
The 2018 ATT Academy in Latin America drew participants from México, Honduras, Perú, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay. This project will bring together 15 participants – 10 from government, and 5 from civil society – each of whom have a direct line of responsibility to ATT implementation in their country and/or be in a position to advance ATT ratification and accession, where applicable. This ATT Academy will consider issues that are specific to Latin American sub-regions, particularly an in-depth coverage of diversion in the region as well as an introduction to the issue of gender-based violence as it relates to the arms trade.
The ATT Academy in Latin America is organized by Control Arms, with financial support from the UN Trust Facility Supporting Cooperation on Arms Regulation (UNSCAR).
2016 ATT Academy East and Horn of Africa
The ATT Academy in East and Horn of Africa, took place in Nakuru National Park, Kenya and brought together 15 participants from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan. It provided a forum for those working closely with arms trade issues nationally to discuss with their regional counterparts the potential linkages between the Arms Trade Treaty and issues specific to the sub-region. For the East and Horn of Africa training, these issues included wildlife poaching, terrorism and pastoralist conflicts.
The ATT Academy in East and Horn of Africa was organized by Control Arms and Pace University, with financial support from the UN Trust Facility Supporting Cooperation on Arms Regulation (UNSCAR).
