Arms Trade Treaty
The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT ) is the name of a multilateral treaty to regulate the international trade in conventional arms. On April 2, 2013, the agreement was approved, but ratification is still pending.
Origin
The idea was developed in 2003 by a group of Nobel Peace Laureates, led by Óscar Arias. In December 2006 the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 61/89 " Towards an arms trade treaty: establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms".
Development
The resolution 61/89 requested the UN Secretary-General to gather the views of Member States on the feasibility, scope and draft parameters for a comprehensive, legally binding instrument establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms and submitted to General Assembly at its 62nd session a report. 94 States have submitted their ideas which are included in the 2007 report.
Support from the Member States
153 Member States voted for the resolution 61 / 89th On 18 October 2006 the British Ambassador John Duncan presented on behalf of the co-authors (Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan and Kenya), the resolution in the First Committee ago. On behalf of the EU, Finland supported the resolution with the words " every day, everywhere, people are affected by the side effects of the irresponsible arms transfers. [ ... ] There is currently no comprehensive, internationally binding instrument available to create an agreed regulatory framework for this activity, the EU welcomes the growing support in all parts of the world for an ATT. "
24 countries abstained: Bahrain, Egypt, China, India, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Yemen, Qatar, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, Marshall Islands, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. The United States voted against the resolution.
Several countries made statements to their vote from: Jamaica, Cuba, Venezuela, China, India, Iran, Algeria, Libya, Russia, Israel, Pakistan and Costa Rica.
USA alter earlier position
On 14 October 2009, the Obama administration announced in a statement by Hillary Clinton and the State Department that it will change the position of the administration of former President George W. Bush, who had spoken out against a proposed agreement on the arms trade, with on the grounds that national controls were better. The redefinition of the position of the United States, the world's largest arms exporter with 55 billion U.S. dollars in annual trade in conventional weapons ( 40 percent of global trade ), led to the opening of formal negotiations at the United Nations to the Arms Trade Treaty to develop. Hillary Clinton declared that the U.S. would support negotiations when " all decisions are made by consensus, to commit all countries to the standards that contribute to a noticeable improvement in the global situation. " Such a consensus solution with veto possibility for each country was necessary "so that the treaty does not hold any back doors open for those who want to run an irresponsible arms exports. "
Negotiation and adoption
The agreement was negotiated at a global conference under the auspices of the United Nations from July 2 to 27, 2012 in New York inconclusive. On 7 November 2012, the UN General Assembly decided by an overwhelming majority to resume negotiations from 18 to 28 March 2013. On April 2, 2013, the agreement was adopted by 154 votes to 3 with 23 abstentions and occurs after ratification by 50 UN member states into force. The rules of international law apply only to the ratifying States. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran and Syria voted against the agreement.