Building capacity for the drafting of the secondary legislation necessary for the implementation of the Republic of Zambia’s Conventional Arms Control Act

The aim of this project is to build capacity and provide technical knowledge to enable the Republic of Zambia to put in place legislation required for the implementation of the National Conventional Arms Control Act. This Act will support effective implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at the national level.

Funder: The Voluntary Trust Fund of the Arms Trade Treaty

As the implementing partner, the Survey will help Zambia in its steps to become fully compliant with the ATT. To reinforce this one-year project, sponsored by the Voluntary Trust Fund of the ATT, the Survey will draw on its experience from assisting with the drafting of the preliminary legislation in 2021–22 of Zambia’s National Conventional Arms Control Act, as well as the productive relationship formed over other short-term collaborations with the country since it became a state party to the ATT in 2016.

In the current project, the Survey will commission legal experts to prepare the first drafts of the secondary legislation. These drafts will be reviewed in a two-day workshop comprised of experts from key Zambian ministries and agencies. The next stage will involve further refining the secondary legislation by the drafting team. There will also be a range of dialogues with the Zambian Ministry of Justice, with which the current National Conventional Arms Control Act rests, towards the development of a complete legislative package (the National Conventional Weapons Control bill and its necessary legislation). This package can then be forwarded to the Zambian National Assembly for its approval and the eventual signature of the Zambian President. During this final phase of the project the Survey will work with the Zambian national contact point to undertake briefings with relevant government ministries, parliamentarians, and presidential staff to help to ensure the timely adoption of this legislation. The successful implementation of these steps will result, it is hoped, in providing the Republic of Zambia with all of the necessary legislative foundations for active compliance with its ATT obligations.