Thilanga to address final ATT in UN HQ in New York

The Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) has extended their invitation to MP Thilanga Sumathipala to participate in the fourth session of the Preparatory Committee Meetings for the recommendations for an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT PrepCom), which will take place at United Nations Headquarters from 13 to 17 February 2012.

After the adoption of the resolution on an Arms Trade Treaty by the General Assembly in 2006, it requested countries to submit their views to the 2007 report of the Secretary General. At the end of 2009 the General Assembly decided to convene a Conference on Arms Trade Treaty in 2012 “to elaborate a legally binding instrument on the highest possible common international standards for the transfer of conventional arms”.

Legislators have a pivotal contribution to make in this area – as advocates, as lawmakers, but most of all, as concerned citizens. In the short term, nearly 100 PGA members and their colleagues in parliaments in more than 25 countries worldwide have signed the Control Arms Global Parliamentary Declaration on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)

Sumathipala participated at the third session of the Preparatory Committee meeting in July 2011 in New York and was invited to participate as a Parliamentary Observer at the fourth and the final session before the Conference on Arms Trade Treaty in July, 2012.

During his visit he will also host the side event of ‘The Arms Trade Treaty – Harnessing the Role of Legislators as Advocates and Lawmakers’ at the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York.