IANSA Update 01.10.09

* Guinea: Security forces shoot unarmed protesters
* UN: First Committee of General Assembly starts next week
* Burundi: New firearms law signed off
* International arms trade on the rise
* Taiwan: Large haul of arms found
* Thailand: Regional meeting on the ATT
* Brazil Portugal: Gun violence documentary in film festival
* Other news: Sexual violence in Colombia; Report on women, peace and security; Nonviolence training; Refugee women's awards; Jobs at ICRtoP, IRC and UN-INSTRAW.

More than 150 protesters were killed and scores dozens of women were sexually assaulted by Guinean security forces on 28 September at a demonstration at the main stadium in Conakry. People were protesting against the candidacy of military junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara in the 2010 presidential elections when soldiers opened fire with live ammunition and teargas. Baffour Amoa from the West African Action Network on Small Arms said "we condemn the indiscriminate firing on unarmed civilians and we urge Guinea's government to hold accountable those security forces who were involved in the attacks. The Guinean army must abandon its tradition of resorting to violence when facing protests."
www.iansa.org

The First Committee of the UN General Assembly starts next week in New York. It will debate disarmament and international security, and will include resolutions on small arms and the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). During the high-level opening session of the UN General Assembly, several countries referenced their support for an ATT.
www.iansa.org/regions/Arias-GA-ATT09.htm

A new firearms law was signed off on 28 August by Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza. A grace period of two months will allow civilians legally or illegally holding weapons to hand them in to the police. After that delay, gun owners who have not obtained a licence will be prosecuted. The new law also states that a person who has been convicted for domestic violence cannot own weapons.

$51.1 billion was the estimated financial value of the international arms trade in 2007, according to the SIPRI Year Book 2009. The arms trade, which includes small arms and many other weapons, represents 0.3% of world trade. The Year Book, officially launched this week, reveals an upward trend in deliveries of major conventional arms since 2005. The US, Russia, Germany, France and UK remained the largest arms exporters.
www.sipri.org/yearbook/2009

Six suspects were arrested and 181 guns were seized on 26 September in what may be the largest arms smuggling bust ever in Taiwan, according to the Taiwanese Criminal Investigation Bureau. The police found the weapons in a fishing boat that had returned from the Philippines. The illegal firearms seized included French-made submachine guns and rifle grenades, plus 22,600 rounds of ammunition.
www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1067337&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_taiwan&cate_rss=TAIWAN_eng

IANSA members from Asia and the Pacific countries met in Bangkok (Thailand) on 24-27 September to discuss the Arms Trade Treaty. IANSA Director Rebecca Peters attended the meeting which was organised in preparation for the UNIDIR ATT meeting to be held in Kuala Lumpur on 13-14 October.

A film by Portuguese IANSA members has been premiered at Rio's International Film Festival. "Luto como Mãe" (Right to Mourn) documents the stories of women who have lost their relatives to urban gun violence in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The film was directed by Luis Carlos Nascimento in partnership with the Observatory on Gender and Armed Violence of the University of Coimbra and the Centre for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship..
www.ces.uc.pt/ogiva/pages/en/home/news.php

Other news:

Every armed group in Colombia (government security forces, paramilitary groups and guerrillas) has used sexual violence as a weapon of war, said a report by Intermon Oxfam. 20% of displaced women have had to abandon their homes due to sexual violence. In Colombia there are more than 3 million internally displaced people, half of them women. Due to the lack of legal guarantees, the vast majority of perpetrators are not prosecuted for their crimes.
www.intermonoxfam.org/es/page.asp?id=3628

The adoption of a gender perspective in addressing armed conflict has not been widely realised, according to the latest report on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, peace and security. In most conflict-affected countries women continue to be virtually absent from peace tables. UNIFEM has found that since 1992, only 2.4% of signatories to peace agreements were women and that no woman has ever been appointed as "chief mediator".
www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EGUA-7WBSKP/$File/full_report.pdf

The Women Peacemakers Program (WPP) is calling for applications for nonviolence trainings to be conducted in 2010. It will provide financial support, links to trainers and/or training materials. Deadline: 30 November.
http://ifor.org/WPP/education_nonviolence.htm

The Women's Refugee Commission is seeking candidates to be honoured at the Voices of Courage Awards 2010. Refugee or internally displaced women or youth who have developed successful innovations that benefit their communities can be nominated. Deadline: 15 October.
www.womensrefugeecommission.org

The International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect (ICRtoP) is hiring a Director and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is looking for a Gender Based Violence Technical Advisor. The UN International Training and Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW) is seeking applications for its internship program 2010.
www.iansa.org/jobs

Please send your news and stories for the Update to adriana.medina@iansa.org.

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IANSA - International Action Network on Small Arms
www.iansa.org