The West African Network for Peace Building (WANEP), began yesterday a two-day capacity building and sensitisation workshop for stakeholders.

The training session aims at raising awareness on the relevant of the international instruments with a particular focus on the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons  following the  Convention on Cluster munitions that was recently negotiated and adopted in Dublin, Ireland. The workshop also provides the opportunity to develop, lobby and advocate skills for the ultimate ratification and domestication of the said conventions.

The two-day training session brought together participants from  NGOs, media, civil society organisations  and members of the National Assembly.

 The training session will also expose participants to the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons, the Land Mine treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions that are regarded as key international instruments aimed at addressing those issues.

At the end of the workshop it is expected that the ECOWAS Convention will be ratified by the Parliament.
According to the report monitored by WANEP, the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons and the use of cluster munitions continue to affect the lives of millions of people around the world, and is regarded as a serious threat to human security in generally.

The report further revealed that West Africa has had its fair share of the effects of these weapons, an increasingly preferred choice in armed conflicts that plagued the region in the past decade. "To that effect there is an ever present need to bring about an end to this menace through legally binding treaties in the promotion of security, peace and development". the report concluded.