Implementing multilateral agreements relating to chemicals in French-speaking African countries: opportunities and obstacles.
PAN Africa organized an international conference of government delegates and NGOs from 17 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Morroco, Niger, Republic of Central Africa, Republic of Congo, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo and Tunisia. PAN Africa handled all meeting logistics and planning for four plenary sessions and three workgroups. The conference mainly aimed to identify all factors that hinder the signing, the ratification and the implementation of the Stockholm Convention, Basel Convention, Rotterdam Convention, and SAICM, as well as to suggest solutions to facilitate their enforcement in African countries. An important topic was NGO involvement in the Stockholm Convention National Implementation Plan and other chemical safety policies and the obstacles and solutions to full NGO participation. The meeting helped improve capacity and knowledge of the Stockholm Convention and other agreements, and it suggested solutions to obstacles in implementing them.
Outputs:
Two-day international conference with government representatives and NGOs from 17 countries