Negotiations begin for the Arms Trade Treaty
12 July 2010
On 12 July negotiations began at the United Nations with the aim of developing an international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The discussions taking place have come four years after the United Nations General Assembly first agreed, by an overwhelming majority, to work towards an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that would establish international rules and standards to better regulate the international arms trade. They also mark the culmination of efforts by Saferworld and other NGOS that have taken place over the past fifteen years.
There are currently no comprehensive, legally binding international rules governing the trade in conventional arms, and gaps and loopholes in national controls allow weapons to end up in conflict zones and in the hands of human rights abusers. One person every minute dies as a result of armed violence, with thousands more injured and abused every day while the 128 armed conflicts since 1989 have resulted in at least 250,000 deaths each year.
Unfortunately, just four weeks of negotiations have been allotted by the UN General Assembly to develop the text of the new international instrument, before the final Negotiating Conference takes place in 2012. The complexity of the issues at stake, combined with the differences of opinion that exist amongst states as regards issues such as the types of weapons to be covered, and how fundamental commitments relating to international human rights and humanitarian law should be addressed, mean that the pressure of time will weigh heavily on the negotiators.
Encouragingly, the vast majority of governments in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia have voted in the UN General Assembly since 2006 for the development of the ATT, with 151 of the UN’s 192 member states supporting the initiative in December 2009, and contributions so far this week have been largely positive. However, they have for the most part been cast in very general terms. There is an urgent need for states to move beyond generalities to start discussing specific aspects and proposing actual text for an eventual Treaty.
Accordingly, Saferworld and our partners in the Control Arms Coalition will be continuing to work intensively over the next two years, to developing support amongst governments for a progressive and comprehensive approach to controlling the international arms trade, and supporting efforts to develop detailed Treaty language to ensure that the ATT that is agreed meets the needs of the world's people.
Read Saferworld's report of the progress made at the first ATT PrepCom
