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	Geneva Peace Talks - It''s time for peace! by Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, agencies   The vision of the Peace Talks is to expand the space for dialogue about building peace and resolving conflict.   The Peace Talks is an initiative that showcases the inspirational stories of people who are making extraordinary contributions to peace. Through city specific events, people deliver a short talk, known as a Peace Talk. Speakers come from different sectors and industries and share their personal stories, ideas and practical solutions to resolve conflict. The Peace Talks is not a political platform; rather the emphasis is on practical lessons and personal stories.   We live in times where uncertainty has become the new norm. Conflict and war dominate the news headlines. As the nature of violent conflict is changing and growing increasingly complex, discussions around solutions have become more technical and confined to the realm of politics and security. As a result, many individuals do not perceive the opportunity to practically contribute to building peace and resolving conflict.   The Peace Talks underline that building peace is not only an effort of technical specialists, but that each and every person has a role to play in peace.   There are few platforms that showcase solutions about resolving conflict that include not only the perspectives of conflict resolution experts, but experts from other sectors. By expanding the conversation about practical solutions for peace beyond the realm of politics, ideas can emerge and be showcased and silos can be broken down.   The Peace Talks was co-founded by the United Nations Office at Geneva, the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform and Interpeace, with the support of the Swiss Government. The Peace Talks started in 2013 in Switzerland has travelled to Stockholm, Nairobi to Ottawa.   http://peacetalks.net/ http://www.prio.org/Peace-Address/ http://blogs.prio.org/ Visit the related web page
	Arms Conference in Mexico seeks to bring greater transparency to Weapons Trade by Control Arms Alliance, agencies   Arms Conference in Mexico seeks to bring greater transparency to Weapons Trade, writes Nadia Prupis.   Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are killed, injured, raped, and forced to flee from their homes as a result of the unregulated global arms trade.   Officials from more than 100 governments are attending the first weapons trade conference in Mexico to address the global arms race fueling human rights abuses and war crimes.   The inaugural Conference of State Parties, taking place in Cancun from August 24-27, will follow the lead of the global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)—which was adopted in 2013 but still awaits implementation by world powers.   The ATT aims to regulate the international weapons industry through what the European Union describes as "greater responsibility and transparency." Many of the state representatives attending the conference have yet to sign or ratify the treaty.   The U.S., which is the number one weapons producer and exporter globally, has signed the treaty, but has not yet ratified it.   "Cancún marks the first major test for the Arms Trade Treaty, and states will have an important opportunity to make history by following through on the treaty’s lifesaving goals," said Amnesty International"s Marek Marczynski.   The ATT must be fully implemented to prevent weapons from crossing through the black market and ending up "in the wrong hands," the EU said in a statement. This conference presents the first "opportunity to lay solid foundations for the ATT regime, by notably adopting its rules of procedure and financial rules, agreeing to common reporting arrangements and establishing the ATT Secretariat."   Oscar Arias Sanchez, former President of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize winner, said the conference gives international actors an opportunity to speak for victims of the arms trade.   "When weapons are circulating freely into the worst possible hands, the law must speak. When the lives of the innocent are placed in danger by an absence of regulation, the law must speak," he said. "And we must speak, today – in favor of this crucial treaty, and its swift and effective implementation. If we do, then when today’s children of conflict look to us for guidance and leadership, we will no longer look away in shame."   "No sane definition of national sovereignty includes the right to sell arms for the violation of human rights in other countries," Sanchez wrote. "A nation willing to carry out such an act is not defending itself, but rather infringing upon the sovereignty of other nations that only want to live in peace."   For its part, Amnesty International is attending the conference to ensure that "the talks don"t get bogged down in bureaucracy or lose sight of the ATT"s guiding principles—effective and transparent regulation to end the human suffering caused by irresponsible flows of conventional arms," Marczynski added.   Oxfam International says, the ATT had "the fastest entry into force of any arms control treaty ever."   Nonetheless, Amnesty says, there are issues of secrecy and corrupting forces surrounding its implementation.   "Some states are trying to curb the role of civil society by significantly restricting their participation in future ATT conferences and making an increasing number of key decisions behind closed doors in secret sessions," adding that there are a number of other participants which "have attempted to strip their ATT reporting requirements down to a bare minimum."   "Shutting civil society out of some of the most important discussions and not making annual reports on arms imports and exports public will mean ‘business as usual’—arms transfers will remain shrouded in secrecy, undermining the purpose of the ATT. This must not be allowed to happen," Marczynski said.   Only 72 countries have ratified the ATT thus far, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK, some of the world"s top arms exporters.   http://controlarms.org/en/ http://www.att-assistance.org/ http://www.sipri.org/newshttp://blogs.oxfam.org/en/blogs/15-08-24-arms-trade-treaty-conference-mexico-lets-build-safer-africa http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/09/despite-treaty-conventional-arms-fuel-ongoing-conflicts/   August 2015   The International Arms Trade Treaty, by Oscar Arias Sanchez.   Twenty-eight years ago this month, an indigenous woman stood in the plaza in Guatemala City, watching as the presidents of Central America walked out into the street after signing the Peace Accords that would end the civil wars in our region. When I reached her, she took both my hands in hers and said, “Thank you, Mr. President, for my child who is in the mountains fighting, and for the child I carry in my womb.”   I don’t need to tell you that I have wondered about that woman’s children ever since. I never met them, but those children of conflict are never far from my thoughts. Those children, and others like them, were the audience of the peace treaty I had drafted. They were its true authors, its reason for being. Theirs were the human lives behind every letter we put onto the page, every word we negotiated.   For the presidents who signed the treaty, achieving peace was the most important challenge of our lives. For those children, it was life or death.   But our victory for peace in 1987 did not fully safeguard those children, or millions more like them, because the weapons that had poured into our region during our conflicts did not disappear when the white flag was raised.   For years after arms suppliers channeled weapons to armies or paramilitary forces during the 1980s, those weapons were found in the hands of the gangs that roamed the countryside of Nicaragua, or of teenage boys on the streets of San Salvador and Tegucigalpa. Other weapons were shipped to guerrilla or paramilitary groups, as well as drug cartels in Colombia, ready to destroy yet more lives.   We had walked into a new era of peace, but the weapons of the past were shackles at our feet.   As I watched this happen in my region, I also learned that the international trade in arms, free from any regulations whatsoever, was feeding unnecessary violence like this all over the world.   Throughout modern history, we have, in effect, told the children of the world that while we will regulate the international trade in food and textiles and any other product under the sun, we are not interested in regulating the international trade in deadly weapons, even when those weapons are being sold to dictators or other violators of human rights, or placed directly into the hands of child soldiers.   So, in 1997, I began my call for a treaty to regulate the trade of arms. I was quickly joined by fellow Nobel Peace laureates, and then by friends and allies all over the world. On Christmas Eve 2014, the International Arms Trade Treaty finally took effect. And now, in Cancún, Mexico, the first-ever Conference of Parties to the Treaty is being held so that its implementation can move forward.   I never thought I would see this day. I am filled with new determination to make sure that the treaty lives up to its potential.   For the treaty is a powerful tool, but it will only protect our children if we give it teeth. It will only protect our children if we implement it fully. It will only protect our children if we ensure that consensus is not used as an excuse for inaction.   I urge the 72 nations that have ratified the treaty to define an alternative to consensus so that one party cannot paralyze implementation. The perfect is the enemy of the good – and in this case, with human lives depending on our swift resolution of pending issues, inaction would be anything but perfect. It would be a travesty.   We must also continue to raise our voices in the face of tremendous opposition from groups that continue to oppose the treaty, arguing that it infringes upon national sovereignty. Quite the opposite is true: no sane definition of national sovereignty includes the right to sell arms for the violation of human rights in other countries. A nation willing to carry out such an act is not defending itself, but rather infringing upon the sovereignty of other nations that only want to live in peace.   We must also avoid using the danger and terrorism in the world today as an excuse for lack of regulation. Cicero’s famous phrase “silent enimleges inter armas” – among arms, laws are silent – has often been used to support the mind-set that the law does not apply during times of war.   But it is at times of war that the law must speak most bravely. When weapons are circulating freely into the worst possible hands, the law must speak. When the lives of the innocent are placed in danger by an absence of regulation, the law must speak.   And we must speak, today – in favor of this crucial treaty, and its swift and effective implementation. If we do, then when today’s children of conflict look to us for guidance and leadership, we will no longer look away in shame. We will be able to tell them, someone is finally ready to take action.   * Oscar Arias Sanchez, former President of Costa Rica (1986-1990 and 2006-2010) and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. Visit the related web page
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