認定NPO法人テラ・ルネッサンスのプレスリリースを発表します。

武器貿易条約（ATT）の締約国会議（CSP）プロセスにおいては、自費による会議参加が困難な途上国の政府関係者やNGO、研究者が会議に参加するための旅費などを提供する公式のスポンサーシップ・プログラムがあります。

アジア・アフリカのNGO・研究者は、CSPの公式スポンサーシップの拡充と選考過程の公平・透明化を求めて、2018年10月にATT事務局や日本などの各国政府に共同書簡を送付しました。

ところが、ATT事務局からは、公式スポンサーシップの対象からNGO・研究者を除外することを記した提案書類が送られてきました。

※2018年10月の日本政府宛て共同書簡は、以下ページでご覧いただけます。
http://www.terra-r.jp/news/press-release/attjointletterjapanambassador.html
http://www.terra-r.jp/news/press-release/attjointletterjapanaminister.html

※この問題に関するこれまでのテラ・ルネッサンスの活動は、以下ページをご覧ください。
http://www.terra-r.jp/news/press-release/20181025.html
https://www.terra-r.jp/news/press-release/20181102.html

公式スポンサーシップ・プログラムの対象からNGOを除外することは、「南」の専門性あるアクターを会議プロセスから排除することを意味します。そしてこれは、ATTの普遍化や実施に深刻な悪影響を与えてしまいます。
そこで、2018年11月12日から13日にかけて、NAJATを含むアジア・アフリカのNGO16団体は、2019年8月の第5回締約国会議（CSP5）の議長を務めるラトビアのジャニス・カークリンス（Janis Karklins）大使やATT事務局のドミサニ・ドラドラ（Dumisani Dladla）事務局長に共同でメールを送付し、ATT事務局から送られてきた提案書類に直接に修正方法を記入する形で修正を要求しました。

修正は、公式スポンサーシッププログラムの対象からNGOを排除せず、かつ、その対象を公正に透明性をもって選出すべきだという趣旨です。

カークリンス議長あてのメールは、以下のとおりです。
アジア・アフリカのNGOが修正要求を直接に書き込んだ書類は、こちらからダウンロードいただけます。

https://www.terra-r.jp/user/media/pdf/news/ATTSponsorshipProgrammeFundingProposalwithcomments.pdf

===================
Dear Ambassador Karklins,

In our previous letter, 15 Asian and African CSOs called for a more
transparent, accessible and equitable sponsorship mechanism to ensure the
active participation of civil society experts in regions where ATT adoption
is low and its implementation encounters many challenges. Our organizations
are engaged in collaborative dialogue with the governments of these
countries and remain a constant supporter of the ATT amidst changes in
their administration or bureaucracy.

We were therefore surprised and disappointed to receive word that the
current ATT Sponsorship Programme Funding Proposal for the Fifth Conference
of States Parties (CSP5), dated October 2018 and drafted by the ATT
Secretariat, excluded CSOs in the sponsorship programme. The current
proposal leaves CSO participation to the Conference to the decision of
donor states. Footnote 2 on page 3 reads “The ATT sponsorship programme is
limited to States and regional organizations. Donors who are interested in
funding the participation of non-governmental organizations (CSOs) and
civil society in the ATT process are encouraged to contact the CSO
community directly.”

By not including CSOs in the formal sponsorship programme mechanism
directly, the proposal effectively marginalizes a great number of
organizations who have little capacity to attend international meetings and
directly communicate with donor countries. We also wish to remind the MC
that not all donor countries have the funding schemes to bilaterally
provide sponsorships to CSOs. In our ongoing talks with the Japanese
government, for instance, we have been informed that their current
mechanisms do not allow them to directly devote funding to CSOs or their
coalitions. We are perplexed and concerned that such a proposal to the
sponsorship programme did not take into consideration or even seek to know
the distinct national procedures of each donor state in being able to
directly fund CSO participation.

We wish to reiterate that the provision in the proposal that limits access
to the sponsorship programme only to States and regional organizations and
places the participation of CSOs solely at the discretion of donor states,
some of which may not even have the national institutional mechanisms to
make this decision, is unacceptable. It not only hinders the representation
of CSOs in international fora where resolutions are made that have a
significant effect on the direction of our work on the ground, it also
undermines civil society advocacy on the universalization and the
implementation of the ATT. We firmly call for a change of the current
proposal and include CSOs eligibility to apply for sponsorship alongside
States and regional organizations. We further call for what we have
expressed in our previous letter, to have a transparent criteria to
evaluate the selection of civil society representatives objectively and
fairly in order to maintain the integrity of the sponsorship programme and
encourage diversity and equitable representation of CSOs in future CSPs and
Working Group meetings.

We recognize that the ATT Secretariat’s tasks would increase after it
starts administering the sponsorship programme. To refer to Paragraph 34 of
the Final Report of the Fourth Conference of States Parties (CSP4) on its
duties and responsibilities related to the sponsorship programme: “…the
administration of the ATT sponsorship programme should be entrusted to the
ATT Secretariat from the Fourth Conference of States Parties, with the
understanding that… this will not curtail the Secretariat’s ability to
fulfil its functions in full… The Conference further decided that 8% of
sponsorship funds will be allocated to the administration of the ATT
sponsorship programme by the ATT Secretariat.” We believe that the ATT
Secretariat is equipped to fulfill its functions in full and is in the
position to know which CSOs have participated in the ATT process and
continue to work through the implementation and universalization of the
treaty. However, should the ATT Secretariat require assistance in
developing and/or administering the sponsorship programme for CSOs, we are
ready to assist its work.

Please find attached with this email, the ATT Sponsorship Programme Funding
Proposal with our collective comments on how to include CSOs in the
mechanism. Please be informed that this correspondence will also be shared
to the network of the CSOs who signed below and other State Parties in
hopes of raising awareness on the issue.

We would like to reiterate that we are open to a dialogue with the MC and
the ATT Secretariat on our cooperation, especially in developing the
criteria and discussing the selection process. We remain steadfast in our
commitment to support the universal adoption and implementation of the ATT
and in promoting transparency and fairness in the participation of the
broadest range of actors in its meetings.

Sincerely,

Control Arms Foundation of India
Disarmament and Arms Control [South Africa]
Gender and Community Empowerment Initiative [Nigeria]
Gender and Environmental Risk Reduction Initiative (GERI) [Nigeria]
Human Rights Education and Peace International (HUREPI-TRUST) [Tanzania]
Institute of International Studies (IIS), Universitas Gadjah Mada [Indonesia]
International Action Network on Small Arms Women Network- Nigeria
Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network (MWGSN)
Network Against Japan Arms Trade (NAJAT)
Nonviolence International Southeast Asia
Promotion of Peace, Crime Prevention and Social Reinsertion (FOMICRES) [Mozambique]
Sustainable Peace And Development Organization (SPADO) [Pakistan]
Tanzania National Action Network on Small Arms
Terra Renaissance [Japan]
West African Action Network on Small Arms
Women’s Right to Education Programme (WREP) [Nigeria]