SIPRI has received funding from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to produce a database that will map Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)-relevant cooperation and assistance activities in sub-Saharan Africa. The project will be carried out in cooperation with the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament (UNREC) .
National implementation of the ATT will require states to review and where necessary strengthen their arms transfer control systems. In many cases states will require guidance and assistance with this process. There are a wide range of past and ongoing cooperation and assistance activities aimed at improving states’ arms transfer controls, which have been carried out by states, international and regional organisations and NGOs.
However, providers and recipients are often unaware of other relevant activities, leading to gaps in coverage and duplication of efforts. To address this issue, the project will create and begin to populate an online database containing standardized information about past and ongoing outreach and assistance activities in Sub-Saharan Africa that are of relevance to the implementation of the ATT. This will help relevant actors to build upon past projects, plan joint activities, and avoid duplication of efforts.
The project will run until January 2016. For more information, please contact Mark Bromley, Co-Director of the SIPRI Dual-Use and Arms Trade Control Programme.