Supporting African States in Achieving the AU vision of “Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2020”
The project organized the national workshops in each of the 11 ECCAS Member States, at the request of beneficiary States and ECCAS.
Synopsis
Objectives
The project aims to strengthen Central African States’ capacity to address various aspects of the illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW) through the effective implementation of the Kinshasa Convention, in support of the African Union (AU)’s vision of Silencing the Guns by 2020.
Components
- Conduct of a regional meeting and workshops in Central African States and Legal Assistance Training Workshop for the States that have ratified the Convention
- Production and dissemination of the Kinshasa Convention Implementation Guide
Main achievements
The project strengthened the technical and legal capacity of 11 member States of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) in the implementation of the Kinshasa Convention on small arms and light weapons, namely in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda and Sao Tomé and Principe.
The project comprised 4 phases, namely, a sub-regional launch meeting, the development, production and distribution of a convention implementation guide, a sub-regional technical capacity-building workshop; and a sub-regional legal capacity-building workshop, in addition to a cross-cutting advocacy process throughout the project, which aimed to encourage the DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda and Burundi to ratify the convention. The project completed additional activities at the request of beneficiary States and ECCAS, such as the organization of national workshops in each of the 11 ECCAS Member States.
Impact
The project has enabled the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea to complete the national ratification processes. Moreover, several beneficiary Member States, including the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo took decisive steps for the creation of their respective National Commission on small arms and light weapons (SALW).