Ciudad de Panama/Panama City Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons

MP Manuel de Araujo and Minister Daisy Tourné speak to the press about the ATT

Daisy Tourné, Minister of the Interior of Uruguay and Parliamentarian Manuel de Araujo from Mozambique held a press conference November 1st, directly after inter-regional discussions bringing together parliamentarians from Latin America, Africa and Europe to discuss the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).

The ATT is of particular interest to Minister Tourné who is the former President of the Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons and head of her country's justice and security programmes. She highlighted arms transfer issues of importance in the Mercosur region, adding that the treaty could provide a vital tool for combating the abundance of small arms. From the other side of the globe, MP de Araujo gave his southern African perspective to the ATT debate, comparing and contrasting his views with discussions currently taking place on the issue in Latin America.

The Latin American Parliament, the Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons, the Panamanian Parliament and the Arias Foundation sponsored the inter-regional meeting, which provided parliamentarians and experts from 15 countries a platform to share knowledge and experiences from their home countries on a variety of topics-from police reform issues to best practice in weapons laws.