GENEVA, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- More than 100 governments attending the fifth Conference of States Parties (CSP5) to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which took place here between Monday and Friday, have agreed to take collective action for the first time ever to reduce gender-based violence, a media release from the treaty secretariat said on Friday.
"This is the first inter-governmental agreement on rolling out the provision in the Arms Trade Treaty that tackles gender-based violence," Janis Karklins, president of the ATT conference, said.
"No person should be facing violence because of their gender and I am delighted that the conference unanimously agreed this action plan," he said.
Under the action plan, governments recognize the gendered impact of armed violence and conflict, and are encouraged to collect gender disaggregated data on victims and to make that data publicly available.
States will also share information on how they are applying the gender-based violence risk assessment criteria in the treaty, develop a training guide for export control officials, and discuss how they are interpreting and using language in the treaty related to gender-based violence.
Adopted in 2013 at the United Nations, the ATT regulates the 100 billion-U.S. dollar annual arms trade. It requires states to assess the risk of weapons being used in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law before they authorize an arms transfer.
