A Seminar on Sweden?s role in the ATT - process

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Jesper Wiklund
Helena Koumi
SweFOR

Near the end of August this year, the Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation (SweFOR) and the Parliamentary Forum on small arms and light weapons jointly organized a seminar on Sweden’s role in the ATT process.

During the same week, SweFOR organized an exchange with six participants from the CLAVE network. Two of them, Ana Yancy Espinoza from Arias Foundation (Costa Rica) and Heather Sutton from Sou da Paz (Brazil) acted as resource persons in the seminar. Other participants in the panel were Leif Rensfeldt from the Division for Disarmament and Security at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Julia Ekstedt from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and Lars Olsson from The Swedish Defense Industries Association. Anna Åkerlund, Secretary General at SweFOR oderated the seminar that consisted of presentations and a panel debate.

Ana Yancy Espinoza started off by presenting the origin of the ATT initiative and the process in order to achieve a legally binding ATT. She also pointed out the important role of civil society in putting the issue on the global agenda.

She also highlighted the six principles of an efficient ATT. These include:
-That all arms transfers must be authorized by states
-That states shall not authorize transfers of arms or ammunition that violates international law
-That states shall not authorize transfers where it is probable that the arms will be used in violations of international law
-That states shall take into account they likely use of the weapons and ammunition to be transferred
-That all states shall submit annual reports on their international arms and ammunition transfers
-That states shall establish common standards for specific mechanisms to control
 
Julia Ekstedt from Sida held a presentation on the link between arms trade and development and stressed that armed conflict is the biggest obstacle to development and that this strongly affects the poorest segment of the population. The work to prevent war and armed conflict is therefore very important as a strategy combating poverty. She also mentioned that she would like to see an ATT as a minimum standard for countries that receive Swedish development assistance: ”Before going into development cooperation with a country, we need to insure those mechanisms are in place”, Ekstedt stated.

Leif Rensfeldt from The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented upon the Swedish position vis-à-vis binding ATT and said that Sweden is positive to it. He also added that Sweden is pushing within the EU to reach a strong common position regarding the members responses to the Secretary General’s consultation on the scope, feasibility and parameters of an ATT. He also believed that Sweden has an important role to play internationally in convincing states to support the ATT.

Lars Olsson, representing The Swedish Defense Industry Association underlined that they completely adjust to the position of the Swedish government and they have no intentions to try and soften the existing Swedish regulations of arms transfers. They claim to have strong products but are competing on an international market where many of their competitors lack the restrictions of arms sales that already characterizes the Swedish trade.

”What we aim for is a responsible arms trade” Heather Sutton from Sou da Paz, Brazil, stated. ”The responsibility of states does not end when the arms leave their borders”. It’s important that arms transfers are followed up and that it is clear where the arms finally are used. ”The object is to save human lives”. Sutton also commented on the fact that in Brazil one person dies as a result from armed violence every 15 minutes and added that this implies that during the seminar yet eight persons would have been killed by gun violence.

So what is then expected from Sweden?

Sutton pointed at the very positive role Sweden played internationally on previous occasions and wished that Sweden would play the same active role in relation to the ATT process instead of relying on other countries to push the question forward. She also pointed out the fact that many countries are yet to decide upon whether to support or reject the proposed ATT and said that Sweden has an important role to play in contributing to a more open dialogue on the proposal.

Leif Rensfeldt responded by saying that Sweden works through the European Union in these questions. Through cooperation within the European Union, direct results may be obtained internationally and within the Union. A single country can no longer achieve anything on its own, he said. Sweden is an active player ”although we don’t run around with the flag all the time”.

Still, Sutton and others maintained that Sweden could offer its assistance to the group of experts to be appointed by the UN Secretary General in order to draft a proposal. As a big producer and exporter of arms but yet with already existing regulations of the sales, Sweden could play a crucial role in convincing other arms producers of the benefits of an ATT. Rensfeldt maintained that an initiative had to come from the government in order for Sweden to offer such assistance and therefore could not commit to such a task beforehand.

A couple of weeks after the seminar SweFOR received notifications that the Swedish government now officially offers its assistance to the group of experts. Leif Rensfeldt reports that this has been a decision at the political level of the department - a decision that SweFOR welcomes.