Nairobi, September 15, 2015 - The Intergovernmental Authority on Development's (IGAD's) Security Sector Program (SSP) in partnership with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and the African Union (AU), is holding a two days workshop to enhance the implementation of UN Resolutation 1540 and other non-proliferation instruments for all IGAD member States.
Background:
At the Workshop for RECs/RMs Focal Points on the Development and Assessment of Regional Plans of Action on the Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention hosted by the African Union in Addis Ababa on 21 November 2014, IGAD-SSP presented possible activities for 2015, including to “conduct a regional workshop to promote international, regional and national legal instruments [featuring instruments] such as UNSCR 1540, ICSANT, CPPNM and the CWC”. The project will assist IGAD Secretariat in this direction.
As UNSCR 1540 is a key legally binding resolution; it calls on states to prevent criminals, militant groups and other non-state actors from acquiring or using Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) containing Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear (CBRN( and their means of delivery.
Purpose of the workshop:
Facilitating the exhcnage of experience among IGAD member States in implemting resolution 1540 and other key non-proliferation instruments such as the BWC and the CWC, with a view to enhancing implementation plans and strengthening the role of IGAD in building CBRN capacities.
It would assist IGAD Members building CBRN capacities, in the context of resolution 1540, the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), as well as the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) , the 2005 Amendment Protocol to the CPPNM and the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT).
While resolution 1540 and these other international instruments are mutually reinforcing, as they address CBRN proliferation challenges through cross-cutting obligations, their implementation at the national level tends to take place in silos, depriving national stakeholders from useful synergies and resulting in duplication of efforts and waste of resource.
The key project activities are:
- To convene a workshop gathering IGAD Members’ national focal points/authorities for resolution 1540, the BWC, the CWC and the nuclear counter-terrorism instruments, in order to: raise awareness of those instruments and of the cross-cutting obligations stemming from them; promote their universalization; facilitate the exchange of experience and effective practices in implementation efforts; address coordination matters; discuss cooperation efforts at the sub-regional level. The 1540 Committee and its Experts, the African Union, the BWC Implementation Support Unit, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, as well as INTERPOL.
- To encourage the designation of a focal point for resolution 1540 at IGAD Secretariat, to be formally submitted to the 1540 Committee, in accordance with resolution 1977;
- To facilitate a briefing by IGAD-SSP to the 1540 Committee (and/or its working group on international cooperation and/or its working group on assistance), which will highlight effective practices and lessons learned that will have been shared at the workshop, and lead to a discussion with 1540 Committee Members and its Experts on challenges and way forward in building CBRN capacities in IGAD region.
The Workshop will produce two outputs: (1) a report on lessons learned and effective practices shared at the workshop, which will be made available to the IGAD-SSP and IGAD Member States, for possible submission to the 1540 Committee; (2) a briefing to the 1540 Committee.
An enhanced role of the IGAD Secretariat would provide states in the sub-region with a platform to coordinate CBRN-related activities and strengthen efforts to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.
All IGAD member States are participating in this regional workshop in addition to the relevant regional and international organization. (END)
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