Disarmament and Globalisation Seminar, 9 July 2008

The CISD Disarmament and Globalisation research project held a seminar jointly with the Geneva Centre For Security Policy in their headquarters in Geneva on 9 July 2008. On the topic "Disarmament and Globalisation: How Can International and Regional Conventional Arms Regulation Efforts Help in Achieving Stability and Security?", the seminar contained two panels, chaired by Simon Lunn, Senior Fellow at GCSP and DCAF, focused on the following issues:

1."The Nexus between Security Sector Reform (SSR) and Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration (DDR): International and Regional Experiences in Conventional Arms Regulation";

2. "Sustainable Security and Weapons Holdings: The Metrics of 'Destabilising and Excessive Accumulations"

Programme

List of participants

Opening Remarks by Amb. Alyson Bailes, Visiting Professor, University of Iceland

Opening Remarks by Dr Dan Plesch, Director of the CISD, SOAS 

Keynote Speech by Lord David Hannay

"European Lessons Learnt", Pal Dunay, Director, International Training Course in Security Policy, GCSP

"SIPRI Arms Transfer Data", Paul Holtom, Researcher on the Arms Transfers project, SIPRI 

"Combating Small Arms Proliferation", Keith Krause, Professor of International Politics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and Programme Director of the Small Arms Survey, Geneva

"SSR-DDR Interfaces", Vincenza Scherrer, Project Officer, UN SSR Project Coordinator, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF)

The seminar convened a number of high quality experts and policy-makers to discuss, amongst other things,

- The need to embed States' policies and regional cooperation within a holistic strategy involving not only government and the armed forces but also civil society and the private sector;

- The impact on defence spending not only of conflicts but also global issues such as energy or food security;

- The components of a possible Strategic Concept for Regulation and Removal of Arms and Proliferation;

- A comprehensive appraisal of conventional arms regulation including not only trade, but also production, stockpiles, export controls, industry conversion and management of core military systems;

- The mutual relationship between on the one hand stability and on the other hand arms and arms control;

- The gaps in research regarding the impact of excessive arms build-ups on civil wars (the excess of arms may be a permissive condition but can also deter adversaries to wage a civil war);

- The possibility for like-minded States to apply to legal and illicit transfers of small arms and light weapons (SALW) instruments similar to the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) including intelligence sharing, capacity building and interdiction of irresponsible transfers;

- The European experience and its "unfinished business" (ratification of the Adapted CFE Treaty), and its possible adaptation to other regions, at least in the form of Confidence- and Security-Building Measures in regions such as the Gulf;

- The linkages between SSR and DDR and their operationalization, coordination, sequencing, monitoring and evaluation;

- The potential progress offered by an Arms Trade Treaty and the "First Generation" measures on SALW, dealing with the supply side, but needing also an approach to the demand side;

- The global benefits of increased transparency resulting from the UN Conventional Arms Transfer Register, but its insufficiencies in particular on missiles;

- The positive effects of good defence governance for counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation or civil crisis management;

- The applicability of SSR and defence transformation not only to developing countries but also to Western countries.

(From left to right): Amb Fred Tanner, Amb Sergio Duarte, Amb Alyson Bailes, and Dr Dan Plesch