Arms Trade Treaty

WILPF and partners held several special briefings and events during ATT. (See details and summaries)

Hundreds of civil society organizations around the world have supported our call for gender focus in the ATT. Thank you all!

WILPF, in our Joint Policy Paper on Gender and the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) with Amnesty International, IANSA, and Religions for Peace, called for a specific criterion in the treaty to "require states not to authorize an international transfer of conventional arms where there is a substantial risk that the arms under consideration are likely to be used to perpetuate or facilitate acts of gender-based violence, including rape and other forms of sexual violence."

During the first two weeks of the conference, 28 Member States have supported and/or referenced gender-based armed violence.

Comments so far on gender-based armed violence at this ATT conference:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Denmark, Finland, Gabon, Ghana, Holy See, Iceland, Ireland, Kenya, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malawi, New Zealand, Norway, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and Zambia.

Here is sample of some of the references:

Iceland: "It is vital that the treaty takes this into account and contains a specific gender-based violence criterion to prevent any such violence against women and girls. Accordingly the treaty should require States to not allow an international transfer of conventional arms where there is a substantial risk that the arms under consideration are likely to be used to perpetuate or facilitate acts of gender-based violence, including rape and other forms of sexual violence. To apply this criterion, States must conduct a meaningful assessment of that risk. It is equally important that the criterion acknowledges that both exporting and importing States have joint responsibility in preventing gender-based violence against women."

Finland: "There is indeed a gender dimension to the trade whereby women are disproportionately affected by armed gender-based violence. Therefore, there should be strong references to gender in the treaty text and the criteria in the treaty should address risks of gender-based armed violence."

Gabon says that the ATT should prevent the transfer of weapons that could give rise to sexual violence.

Ghana calls for criteria that takes into account gender-based violence, including rape and other forms of sexual violence.

Keep up to date

Read all information and summaries of WILPF's special events on PeaceWomen's Gender and ATT Page>>

Sign up to receive Reaching Critical Will's ATT Monitor daily through the conference and stay updated ATT Monitor Blog.

Check out which nations are in support of gender-based violence content in the ATT at this online Mapping Database supported by RCW.