Media seminar and other small arms and arms transfer control activities in Russia
12 December 2006 Saferworld has been working with local partner the PIR Centre in a project to help build the capacity of civil society to tackle the problem of small arms. At the end of November, three lectures were held at the Moscow State University for students of World Politics. Covering areas such as small arms proliferation, international arms transfer controls, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) initiative and the role of civil society in combating arms proliferation. Interactive presentations were followed by a series of question and answer sessionsOn 5 December, a press conference was held at RIA-Novosti, one of the major national news agencies in Russia. Representatives of 14 media outlets (Narodnoe Radio, Moskovskie Novosti, FNS, Golos Rossii, Pryensa Latina, Russia Today, Zvyozda, Kryedosh, Govorit Moskva, Trud, Novyi Region, Vzglyad and Golos Vyetnama) attended the event, that focused on the UN General Assembly's vote on the ATT, taking place that day. The meeting generated significant media coverage across Russia. The press-conference was followed by a roundtable debate where participants explored in detail arguments in favour and against Russia joining the ATT initiative.
For the first time under this project, Saferworld and the PIR Center also conducted a seminar for the media, with a focus on small arms and international arms transfer controls. Attended by a small group of young journalists representing TV channels in the Moscow region, the seminar was an interesting and worthwhile event. The seminar was co-organised by the Educational Centre of the Russian Union of Journalists, a national journalists' organization. There was a great deal of interest and the partners are now looking at undertaking follow-up events for more journalists.
On 7-8 December, a civil society training workshop was held at the Independent Press Centre in Moscow. The workshop aimed to develop ideas and a shared understanding of the scope and challenges of controlling the spread of conventional arms. It examined ongoing efforts to develop a new international mechanism to tackle the proliferation of conventional arms and participants learned about the role that governments and civil society worldwide have been playing in the ATT process and discussed how these experiences can be applied in the Russian context. A number of specific topics were examined, including the dynamics of legal, illegal and grey market arms transfers, the impact of arms misuse and proliferation, both in Russia and abroad, and arms control initiatives at the national, regional and international level, including efforts to establish an ATT. The format of the workshop was very interactive, combining presentations, briefings and working group sessions.
These activities all received significant media coverage including, Russia Today , First National TV Channel, 'Nastroenie' programme, TVC (ТБЦ) TV Channel (a national TV channel) and Radio UN, Russian Service. There were also various reports by important news agencies and printed media.
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