Aiming for Prevention International Initiatives

UNITED NATIONS RELATED EVENTS

The United Nations "Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects" was convened in July 2001 to decide on steps nations should take to prevent the illicit trade in small arms. Non-governmental organizations including IPPNW took a prominent role in the conference advocating for a variety of methods to reduce armed violence, including presenting evidence on the difficulty in separating legal and illegal transfers, and calling for tough controls on both state and non-state weapons sellers. The result of the 2001 conference was a "Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. Since then IPPNW has participated in all the subsequent meetings relating to the Programme of Action, which includes calls to combat the small arms trade simultaneously from both a supply and demand perspective, and to develop and support action-oriented research.

Other international intiatives have included participation at the following United Nations events:

• 3rd Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons - July 14-18, 2008
  IPPNW presents on human dimensions of small arms violence, conducts public health panel on "Risk and Resilience."
  
  
• Review Conference (RevCon) to Consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons - June / July 2006
  IPPNW raised a public health voice to highlight the human face of suffering at the United Nations Review Conference
  
  
• PrepCom to the Review Conference to Consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons - January 9-20, 2006
  The IANSA Public Health Network and IPPNW activists raised the issue that "guns are bad for health" at the United Nations. View pdf of the IANSA Public Health Network roundtable session flyer here.
  
  
• 2nd Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons - July 11-15, 2005
  IPPNW Central Office staff and affiliate leaders from Africa, South Asia, and Latin America gathered at the United Nations in New York City at the Second Biennial Meeting of States on the Programme of Action (UNPoA) on Small Arms to participate in a variety of sessions.
  
  
• 1st Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons - July 7-11, 2003
  This was a series of follow up meetings to determine the progress nations have made toward achieving the goals set out in the Programme.
  
  
• Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects - July 2001