CALD attends international conference on arms control

(March 29, 2006 / Pililla, Philippines) Mr. Matthew Sherwin, Assistant to CALD Secretary General Dr. Neric Acosta, attended today a regional conference sponsored by Amnesty International and International Action Network on Small Arms, both London-based organizations, to build support for the international campaign to pass an Arms Trade Treaty at the United Nations in October, 2006.

The three-day conference in this idyllic town in Rizal Province, East of Metro Manila, was opened with a keynote address by Dr. Walden Bello of the University of the Philippines. Dr. Bello argued in principle against foreign military intervention in domestic politics for humanitarian purposes.  The conference was then facilitated by London-based coordinators of a global campaign to coordinate activism in pressuring governments to bolster the existing UN Program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons at the review session in June, and to ratify a new Arms Trade Treaty at the UN General Assembly in October.  They were Messrs. Mark Neuman and Sauro Scarpelli.

In attendance were representatives of dozens of Filipino NGOs, and representatives of Amnesty offices in Korea, Cambodia, Thailand, Mongolia, Hong Kong, and Indonesia.

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