Reaching Critical Will and ATT

RCW and Arms Trade Treaty Prep Committee

WILPF Reaching Critical Will (RCW) Updates:

• WILPF Statement on the 66th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• On 27-29 July, the UN General Assembly held a plenary meeting on revitalizing the work of the CD. Statements and RCW's report and analysis are available online. Robert Zuber of Global Action to Prevent War also wrote an article.
• WILPF will be co-sonsoring the annual Keep Space for Peace Week from 1-8 October 2011. KS4P Week marks international days of action to stop the militarization of outer space.
• On 29 June, Reaching Critical Will presented a monitoring report on the third pillar of the 2010 NPT Action Plan as a part of a joint project on NPT Action Plan Monitoring together with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.

The third session of the preparatory committee for the UN Conference on an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) met at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City from 11–15 July 2011. The purpose of the PrepCom is to make recommendations on the elements that would be needed to attain an effective and balanced legally-binding instrument on the highest possible common international standards for the transfer of conventional arms. The ATT is to be negotiated in July 2012.

PeaceWomen's partner project, Reaching Critical Will, monitored the event. Please see relevant information here.

To read about the importance of Women's role in implementing a humanitarian arms trade treaty, please read the perspective of Jasmine Nario-Galace from International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) here.