ATT

The European Parliament voted today on a resolution on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that will be negotiated at a major UN conference in New York on 2 – 27 July.

The poorly regulated global trade in arms and ammunition weakens the ability and willingness of governments to sustain progress in development.

Global sales of ammunition are worth more than $4 billion and are growing at a faster rate than trade in guns, yet there is virtually no regulation in place to control where the bullets end up.

Guns are useless without bullets. An Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that does not control ammunition will not achieve its purposes.

According to new figures, more than $2.2 billion worth of arms and ammunition have been imported since 2000 by countries operating under arms embargoes.

The Arms Trade Treaty is a potential ground-breaking humanitarian treaty that would regulate the international trade in conventional weapons.

Arms expert Kathi Lynn Austin said:

The Viktor Bout case shows need for global rules on arms trading – a global 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

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.