News

06/11/2008

UN First Committee vote on the Arms Trade Treaty

In October, Saferworld and other NGOs attended the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security (UN1C) to lobby governments to support a resolution ‘Towards an arms trade treaty: establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms’. While the language of the resolution could be stronger, it does call for an open ended working group to begin substantive discussions looking at areas where consensus could be developed for ‘inclusion in an eventual legally-binding treaty’.

The outcome was positive. The resolution was sponsored by 116 states, and received very strong support in the actual vote: with 147 voting in favour, 18 abstaining and only two voting against.

However, a significant number of the abstainers were countries whose support is important for an effective ATT (for instance China, Egypt, India, Israel, Pakistan and Russia), and the US was one of the two states that voted against.

"This vote reaffirms the strong commitment of states for a global, legally-binding Arms Trade Treaty,” said Roy Isbister, Team Leader for Small arms and international transfer controls at Saferworld. “But many challenges remain and the shape of the eventual Treaty is far from certain. It is critical that when the open ended working group meet next year, supportive states are prepared to fight for a comprehensive Treaty based on strict observance of human rights and international humanitarian law."

The resolution will now pass to the full UN General Assembly (UNGA) who will vote to formally endorse it. It is unlikely that any countries will change their vote at this stage, however it is likely that some among the 25 member states that did not attend the vote at the UN1C will support the resolution at the UNGA. In 2006, when the UNGA first voted on beginning work towards an ATT, 153 members voted in favour of the resolution. Saferworld hopes that more states will vote for the resolution this year, and we will continue to work with governments around the world to develop their support for this vital initiative.

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