Red Cross conducts arms trade treaty workshop |22 November 2014

The Red Cross Society of Seychelles with the collaboration of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) yesterday held a one-day workshop on the Arms Trade Treaty at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The aim of the workshop is to help implement the treaty in Seychelles.

The Arms Trade Treaty which is also known as the Law of Armed Conflict will come into force on 24th December this year. To date, it has been signed by 122 countries and ratified by 54. Seychelles was one of the first countries to sign the treaty and is currently finalizing preparations for its ratification.

The workshop was officially launched by the Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs Maurice Lousteau Lalanne in the presence of Red Cross President Colette Servina and the two facilitators Christophe Vongt and Sarah Swart.

Mr Vongt is the Regional Chief of Delegation of the ICRC while Mrs Swart is the organisation’s legal advisor at it’s Advisory Services in Pretoria, South Africa.

The training is being attended by members of the local Humanitarian Affairs Committee and agencies concerned such as the Seychelle People’s Defence Forces (SPDF), Customs Division as well as law makers and legal experts.

Mr Lousteau Lalanne thanked the ICRC delegation for agreeing to conduct the workshop in Seychelles. He said that the initiative comes at a right moment when the country is preparing for ratification of the Armed Trade Treaty. He guaranteed that Seychelles is determined to take the right steps to ensure its implementation.

He reminded the scourge of piracy which has shown that even if a small country, Seychelles has experienced first hand the consequences of small arms falling in the wrong hands.

“Despite our size we will never be hesitant to make known what we believe in and to alleviate the sufferings of others. Our responsibility is to support this treaty and contribute to world security. The workshop will help limit arms trade and reduce the sufferings of innocent people” the Principal Secretary said.

On his part, Mr. Vogt said that the world is changing quickly and that new conflicts are progressively raising new concerns and bringing with them new challenges for humanity. He added that as in Africa all small weapons can be considered as weapons of mass destruction, it is important for all countries to keep the capacity to remain at pace with international developments.

He affirmed that it is a worldwide tradition for ICRC to hold conferences and seminars on International Humanitarian Law with the objective of reducing and limiting unnecessary suffering in the world. He concluded that even if Seychelles is not involved in any conflict, it can contribute in reducing the suffering.

“Even countries like Seychelles, which are not involved in any conflict and will hopefully never be, can contribute to the limitation and reduction of suffering in the world by actively participating in the international forums and debates around the protection of law in times of war”, he said.

It is currently estimated that worldwide revenue from the small arms trade amount to more $ 100 000 million per year, and the figure is constantly on the rise.