Arms Trade Treaty

With the trial of Viktor Bout nearly underway and the UN negotiations on an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) starting in the summer of 2012, this briefing paper seeks to provide a deeper un

Diplomats at the United Nations’ talks on the future Arms Trade Treaty have made serious progress this week with a growing number of key countries bringing their support to the process. The week was also marked by pro-ATT statements from global investors’ with over US$ 1.2 trillion in assets.

Baffour Amoa, spokesperson for the Control Arms Coalition said:

The Arms Trade Treaty is a powerful tool in helping prevent weapons transfers to government security forces where there is a likelihood that they will be used to seriously violate international human rights and humanitarian law.

Arms traffickers can too easily navigate the patchwork of national arms regulations, fuelling conflict while avoiding arrest and extradition, because countries have been too weak or reluctant to pass an international arms trade treaty, says international agency Oxfam.

On 11 December 2009 a 35 ton cache of conventional weapons left North Korea bound for Iran. The following day the arms were intercepted and seized by authorities in Thailand.

In a new report released today, Oxfam exposes the weaknesses in New Zealand company law that enabled unscrupulous international arms brokers to drag the country into the deadly business of the illegal arms trade, highlighting the urgent need for a global Arms Trade Treaty.

The Control Arms alliance expressed some satisfaction at progress made at the preliminary Arms Trade Treaty negotiations but urged governments to maximize time before the next meeting in 2011 to develop a draft Treaty further.

States must use every available minute to draw up a new international arms treaty that could save thousands of lives every year, NGOs from around the world said today as negotiators from 192 governments begin formal talks at the United Nations on Monday.

Today at the United Nation years of discussions and debates, the vast majority of governments – 153 in total – agreed a timetable to establish a "strong and robust" Arms Trade Treaty with the "highest common standards" to control international transfers of conventional arms.