 Preventative diplomacy, Post-conflict recovery and Disarmament have been the main focal points of PGA's Peace & Democracy Program in the first decade of its operations from 1978-1988, with particular priority given to the central importance of nuclear and chemical weapons. Following almost 15 years (1991-2004) in which the Organization's Peace and Democracy programme utilized parliamentary diplomacy to promote dialogue and stability in conflict and post-conflict situations and to prevent the escalation of crises into conflict[1], PGA has now gravitated once again to the disarmament/arms' control field, focusing on the weaponry that is fuelling the conduct of hostilities in many contemporary armed conflicts and delaying swift emergence into stable post-conflict societies, namely, conventional arms, including small arms and light weapons. |
In 2006, and as a result of PGA's intensive work on Security Sector reform (2003-05), PGA initiated a pilot project in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) facilitating a series of UN-related activities and high-level Regional Seminars and Workshops to address the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons and the initiative towards an Arms Trade Treaty in the regions of West Africa, the CIS/Caucuses/Eastern Balkans, and South East & South Asia. Three regional parliamentary seminars took place in Dakar, Senegal and Tbilisi, Georgia and Manila, The Philippines in 2006 and 2007.
The objectives of PGA's Peace & Democracy Programme are twofold: on the one hand, PGA aims to foster greater political leadership and improved legislative tools for Lawmakers to give effect to already existing commitments to curb and control Small Arms and Light Weapons; on the other, the membership of the Organization has now formally decided to engage in new initiatives to promote a global instrument that may effectively regulate and control arms transfers worldwide. More recently, PGA Members have participated as integral members of national delegations to the first two ATT PrepComs in 2010 and 2011, enhancing their expertise in this area and facilitating greater understanding by them and their parliamentary colleagues of the main issues under discussion in the ATT negotiation process. |