PHL joins capacity-building program for Arms Trade Treaty

AMID THE Duterte administration’s campaign against terrorism, the Office of the Special Envoy on Transnational Crime (OSETC) on Sunday announced that the government has participated in a capacity building program with the Expertise France and the German Federal Office for Economics and Export Control (BAFA) for the implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which the Philippines signed in 2013. The ATT is an international treaty that regulates international trade in conventional arms like small arms, ammunition, and armored fighting vehicles, among others. The treaty also seeks to prevent and eradicate illicit trade and diversion of these arms. The OSETC headed by Special Envoy Amb. Bruce S. Conception and the BAFA conducted a four-day forum under the 2^nd phase of the European Union’s Arms Trade Treaty Outreach Project (EU ATT OP II) entitled “Working Together for Combatting Illicit Trafficking in Arms” in Taguig City, from Jun 25 to 28, the OSETC said in a statement on Sunday. “Discussed were the coordination mechanisms of licensing, enforcement, and investigation with respect to the control of international arms’ transfers; and outreach efforts for the industry and capacity-building opportunities in relation to the implementation by Philippines of the ATT,” it added. — Arjay L. Balinbin