ISS Conference, BY INVITATION ONLY: Securing Africa's nuclear resources
Date: 2011-02-01 to 2011-02-02
Venue: ISS Pretoria Seminar Room
The African continent faces a myriad of security challenges at present, including the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, the need to alleviate poverty, food insecurity and the provision of basic goods and services such as housing, educational facilities and healthcare. The extent of these immediate challenges makes it difficult to argue that Africa should prioritise the security of nuclear and other radiological materials on the continent.
This Workshop will explore why it is crucial for the African continent to engage constructively with the international community to ensure global security and will provide an opportunity for the participants to share lessons and experiences on strengthening nuclear security in Africa and, importantly, to develop a set of concrete proposals for African states to co-ordinate their actions needed to secure vulnerable nuclear and other radioactive materials from unauthorised persons or organisations.
Discussions will take place in the context of the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty’s (Treaty of Pelindaba) recent entry into force in July 2009. Under Article 10 (Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials and Facilities) of the Treaty of Pelindaba, States Parties undertake to: “… maintain the highest standards of security and effective physical protection of nuclear materials, facilities and equipment to prevent theft or unauthorized use and handling. To that end each Party, undertakes to apply measures of physical protection equivalent to those provided for in the Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and in recommendations and guidelines developed by IAEA for that purpose”.
