Policy
The development of a comprehensive firearm policy on small arms and light weapons is usually one of the initial steps undertaken by a country when improving their management of SALW stocks. The aim of this activity is to formulate and approve a National Policy on Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Related Materials in accordance with international and regional action programmes, protocols and national objectives. This includes the following aspects: possession (state and private), use, importation, exportation, dealing, brokering, transit, storage, stockpiling, manufacture, marking, record keeping, collection, seizure, confiscation, destruction, and disposal. The policy guides the Firearm Legislation and regulations, which often needs to be reviewed in light of changes to the policy directives.
Prior to the commencement of the drafting of the firearm policy, the national focal point or national commission establish a policy drafting committee to undertake the drafting of the policy. In preparation for the national policy drafting, the policy drafting committee needs to prepare a number of key requirements. These include, amongst others, the assessment and summary of: National Policy requirements from the National Firearm law and regulations, and all other relevant national legislation; the regional small arms agreements; the UN Protocol against the illicit manufacture of, and trafficking in firearms, their components and ammunition; the UN Programme of Action; as well as other relevant research on small arms.
Thereafter there are a number of policy drafting meetings during which the national policy drafting committee are required to generate the policy. These meetings will take the format of a number of workshops of no more than one week each. In these meetings a number of aspects are dealt with such as to: generate the guidelines for the policy and the policy framework and to generate the first draft of the policy in light of the guidelines. This would involve inputting the substance of the policy into the developed framework; finalise the policy in light of comments and consultations; circulate the draft policy to heads of the relevant departments and ministries for comment. A date would be set for receiving comment. These comments would be integrated into the draft policy document and be circulated to relevant civil society organizations for comment. A date would be set for receiving comment. These comments would be integrated into the draft policy document.
The policy formulation process is enhanced through the active participation of, and interaction with, relevant civil society and NGO’s, think tanks and other experts in research, information gathering and information sharing as part of the National Policy. The modalities of the process are determined by the national policy drafting committee. The final draft policy would be submitted to cabinet / parliament for approval.
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