UN Secretary General Calls for an End to Inadequate Regulation of the Global Trade in Conventional Weapons

The United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty will run from 18 to 28 March 2013 with expectations  of finally getting to a successful outcome.  Ambassador Peter Woolcott of Australia will be presiding over the Conference.

On this occasion the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gave the following statement:

“I look forward to the Final United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which will commence its work next week in New York. I am confident that Member States will overcome their differences and muster the political will needed to agree on this landmark treaty.

It is our collective responsibility to put an end to the inadequate regulation of the global trade in conventional weapons -- from small arms to tanks to combat aircraft.

I reiterate my support for an Arms Trade Treaty that regulates international transfers of both weapons and ammunition and provides for common standards for exporting States.  These standards are important for assessing the risks that transferred weapons are not used to fuel conflict, arm criminals or abet violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.  This is the only path to more accountability, openness and transparency in the arms trade.

A robust ATT will help alleviate the plight of the millions of people affected by conflicts and armed violence and enable the United Nations to better carry out its mandate to promote peace, development and human rights around the world.  Adoption of this treaty will also provide much-needed momentum for wider disarmament and non-proliferation efforts by the international community. “

On 2-27 July 2012 countries of the world gathered at the United Nations in New York for an historical initiative in the area of conventional arms: to negotiate an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The Treaty would establish high common standards for international trade in conventional arms, from small arms to artillery, combat aircraft or warships.  As the Conference could not reach agreement on a treaty text the General Assembly of the United Nations decided to convene a Final Conference on the ATT, in March 2013, to conclude the work begun in July 2012.