On October 30 2012, CCIJ Toronto Working Group screened Devil’s Bargain followed by a panel discussion with Olivia Ward, Foreign Affairs Analyst, Toronto Star and collaborator on the film; Professor Aparna Sundar, Department of Politics and Public administration, Ryerson University; Garoma Wakessa, Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa.
The film discusses the international small arms trade, highlighting the foreign producers and the process by which those weapons are brought into the illegal markets referred to as the ‘gray zone’. Governments and private actors such as aircraft companies in Eastern Europe, who transport the weapons, facilitate this process.
The film focused on the impacts of those weapons in East Africa, particularly in Somalia and Kenya and how they have contributed to many human rights violations and instability in that region. The discussion highlighted the efforts to regulate the small arms trade through the UN Arms Trade Treaty and whether to regulate this trade through national or international frameworks. As the film noted, the solution is complex and requires addressing not only the sources and the use of those weapons but also the political structures involved in the arms trade.
The CCIJ Toronto Working Group would like to thank our great panelists and Ryerson Aegis Society University for co-hosting the event. Many thanks to those who organized the event: Joanne Preece, Yusur Al-Bahrani, Oscar Vigil, and the volunteers on the night of the event.
Eden Tefferi
