NSP Research – Updates

Right-wing bloggers blazed at the audible gasp that went up from the crowd when the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced (first in Norwegian, then English) that it had awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama.  In its press statement, the Committee described Obama as heralding a “new climate in international politics” in which  “multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position” with emphasis on “dialogue and negotiations” and the role played by the United Nations and other international institutions (tho not civil society). (more…)

While I was in New York to launch the Disarm DVD, I stopped by a diplomatic meeting at the United Nations on the proposed Arms Trade Treaty. Governments had convened for the first meeting of a delightfully named “open-ended working group,” the latest phase in what has become a lengthy effort to create an international treaty to regulate government transfers of conventional weapons and small arms. (more…)

We released the DVD of our documentary feature film on landmines, Disarm, at at the beautiful Scandinavia House venue near the United Nations in New York Monday, 2 March. A massive snowfall the night before and throughout the day had us worried that the event would be a bust, but 150 people showed up to watch the film and listen to a panel discussion featuring diplomats, activists and the filmmakers. A full report on the event is available on Disarm’s website. The film can be purchased from Amazon, rented from Netflix, and purchased via digital download from IndiePix.

Next Step Productions is grateful to everyone involved in the production of the DVD (especially Disarm director Brian Liu, Guillaume Bernadeau, Amy O’Byrne, Nick Pimentel, Katy Wood, and our translators).  We are grateful to IndiePix for their taking Disarm on and for their phenomenal organising around the New York launch event – many thanks to  Bob Alexander, Danielle DiGiacomo, Ryan Harrington, Liz Ogilvie, and Matt Posorske. Finally, a big thanks to the speakers and participants at the New York event as well as the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) for its support.

We’re preparing an event in New York to launch the DVD of Disarm. After completing the film in 2005 it screened at film festivals in the United States and around the world until Janson Media picked up the film’s broadcast distribution. Last year, independent film distributor IndiePix agreed to distribute the Disarm DVD, which we spent many, many months preparing. We’re very proud of the final product. The DVD is loaded with extras including 40 minutes of deleted scenes and director’s commentary. It includes subtitle French, German, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

The DVD will be available from stores in Canada, the US and UK, online at Amazon and Netflix, and available via digital download. We’re asking all our friends and supporters to PLEASE buy the film, spread the word, and leave comments and ratings on the Disarm profile on Amazon and Netflix.

We’re working with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) on the 2 March event at Scandinavia House in New York, where we’ll will launch the DVD and commemorate the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty’s tenth anniversary. The speaker line-up includes Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams, Colombian Ambassador Claudia Blum, Norwegian Ambassador Mona Juul, and Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch. It should be a great launch for Disarm’s long-awaited DVD!

My colleague Alison Des Forges died in a plane crash in New York this week. She was an researcher in the Africa division of Human Rights Watch (HRW). A receipent of the MacArthur ‘genius’ award, Alison was a very inspiring colleague and her death has touched everyone at HRW. The New York Times published her obituary today.

When I first joined HRW’s DC office in May 1998, the associates for the Arms and Africa divisions shared a tiny office next to mine. I remember the Africa associate Juliet Wilson working weekends and evenings to format (in word perfect!) Alison’s authoritative account of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda: Leave None to Tell the Story. When the 789-page book was issued in March 1999 it was the largest publication ever produced by HRW. Two months later, we took that record with the hefty Landmine Monitor Report 1999. I still have my copy of Alison’s report on my bookshelf – it takes pride of place. May she rest in peace.

It became difficult to write daily updates in the closing days of the conference, mainly because I was there until midnight on Wednesday 5th and until 2.30am on Thursday 6th July. The President scheduled informal sessions on those evenings to try and reach consensus on some of the more contentious elements of his outcome document – future of the process, arms trade, ammunition, civilian posession, etc.

I left the conference to return to DC on Friday 7th at 3.30pm. Little had happened until that point. Governments were talking to each other bilaterally to try and sort out some of the problems and all indications pointed to an evening session to finalize the outcome document. Instead when I arrived in DC close to 6pm I received a text from my colleague that read: “total meltdown. no outcome document. complete failure of UN arms trade conference.”

It turns out that the President of the meeting gave up in his attempt to get the governments to agree to the final outcome document and closed the conference just before 6pm Friday. He then did a press conference where he described the meeting as a success because the 2001 Programme of Action (PoA) remained “an enabling framework that empowered states, international and regional organizations and other relevant organizations and civil society” to work to end the illicit trade in small arms.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan subsequently expressed disappointment that delegates were unable to agree on a common declaration to guide further action. Without an outcome document from the meeting, states in effect are left with guidance on future implementation of the PoA and no mandate to meet again although Canada has said it will go ahead and convene an unofficial and informal meeting in May 2007 to discuss the need for global controls on arms transfer controls between states.

The NGOs to the conference had focused much of their attention and effort on influencing the outcome document language and spent less time educating governments on what would be required to negotiate an Arms Trade Treaty. This is because the ATT was not seen as achievable via the 2001 PoA and they did not want to detract attention from the PoA. Here’s a link to the press statement by Control Arms… In it, the NGOs blame a small number of countries (Cuba, India, Iran, Israel and Pakistan) for holding the rest of the conference hostage due to the decision-making process that guided the conference.

Today the President of the Review Conference released an updated outcome document for discussion by the meeting. The nine-page paper is three pagers shorter than the previous version released last Wednesday. In the afternoon, President Kariyawasam opened up discussion on the paper by placing it on overhead projectors shown to delegates for their comment and suggested amendments. Over 100 governments making comments on one document seemed like editing by committee and unfortunately it was.

The question now for me is how much more the NGOs will put up with this meeting??? We’re not moving us any closer toward the goal of an Arms Trade Treaty. Tomorrow is US Independence Day when, contrary to NRA propoganda, we will not be meeting…

This morning I witnessed the gun lobby in action. It was finally time for the statements by non-governmental organizations. The back row of the room filled with American middle-aged white men, members of the National Rifle Association (NRA). It was quite a sight. One cautioned that regulating the global gun trade would inhibit sustainable development by curbing big game hunting tourism in southern Africa?!?

The real NGOs spoke next with 16 different statements. Unfortunately the morning session coincided with World Cup football and soon the room had emptied substantially as the diplomats watched Germany beat Argentina on penatlty shoot-outs in the cafe outside. Since we are on international territory at the United Nations, the diplomats can smoke in the café and corridors. Something you can no longer do indoors elsewhere in New York.

I wound up spending much of the afternoon in the smoke-filled café watching another game and catching up with old friends. In the plenary room, the President had inexplicably scheduled a bizarre “case studies” session in which countries talked about their needs in the clean up of small arms and light weapons. With no outcome or meaning it was an odd session considering we have spent the past four days listening to very similar country statements.

I spent a lot of time trying to find out the buzz on the anticipated outcome of the conference, in particular where states are falling behind text recommending global guidelines on legitimate trade in small arms and light weapons. The guidelines would help provide some impetus to the call for an arms trade treaty, but several major powers are either lukewarm to the idea or downright hostile. We’ll know the outcome one week from now…

The meeting is hopelessly behind schedule. Eight moree governments spoke in the morning followed by international and regional organizations such as Interpol and NATO. Finally the President of the Review Conference, Sri Lankan Ambassador Kariyawasam, closed the morning session by promising that the remaining governments (some 20 states) speak on Monday.

The NGOs will still get to deliver their statements tomorrow morning after which inexplicably a time-wasting session on assistance and cooperation has been allocated for the rest of the day. The NGOs unfortunately intend to provide about 16 speeches to the plenary followed by an unknown number of gun lobbby statements including the National Rifle Association, which has gotten into the meeting as a “NGO.”

Things got more interesting in the afternoon as the President took feedback on the principal outcome document of the meeting a twelve-page “strategy for further implementation.” Forty governments gave their feedback with Western or developed states such as New Zealand converging around elements favoured by the NGOs such as strengthened text on arms transfers and the need to reinsert language on the linkages between small arms/light weapons and development, human rights, and gender. The President has apponted three facilitators (Colombia, Japan, and Switzerland) to consult with concerned countries on the text to return Monday with their findings.

After finally gave an indication on how hbe intends to handle the remainder of the

The conference started late today as the General Assembly room was in use for an event to welcome the Republic of Montenegro as the newest (192nd) member of the United Nations. Finally Serbia is completely alone.

The speeches then continued with approximately 25 governments statements in total. My patience is wearing a bit thin and it felt as if there was less quality in the content (eg. fewer references to the impact of small arms on development, little talk about arms transfer controls or the need for an Arms Trade Treaty).

One bright spot was tonight’s Control Arms concert at the Supper Club of Times Square featuring some great artists such as South African hip hop act Zola.