No arms trade treaty made
US, China, Russia ask UN for more time to think over proposed treaty
UNITED NATIONS—Member states failed to reach agreement Friday on a new UN treaty to regulate the multibillion dollar global arms trade, and some diplomats and supporters blamed the United States for triggering the unraveling of the monthlong negotiating conference.
Hopes had been raised that agreement could be reached on a revised treaty text that closed some major loopholes by Friday’s deadline for action. But the US announced Friday morning that it needed more time to consider the proposed treaty— and Russia and China then also asked for more time.
“This was stunning cowardice by the Obama administration, which at the last minute did an about-face and scuttled progress toward a global arms treaty, just as it reached the finish line,” said Suzanne Nossel, executive director of Amnesty International USA. “It’s a staggering abdication of leadership by the world’s largest exporter of conventional weapons to pull the plug on the talks just as they were nearing an historic breakthrough.”
US derailed process
A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, also blamed the US, saying “they derailed the process,” adding that nothing will happen to revive negotiations until after the US presidential election in November.
Chief US negotiator Thomas Countryman refused to talk to several dozen reporters when the meeting broke up.
The draft treaty would require all countries to establish national regulations to control the transfer of conventional arms and to regulate arms brokers. It would prohibit states that ratify the treaty from transferring conventional weapons if they would violate arms embargoes or if they would promote acts of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.
In considering whether to authorize the export of arms, the draft says a country must evalu- ate whether the weapon would be used to violate international human rights or humanitarian laws or be used by terrorists, organized crime or for corrupt practices.
No treaty
Many countries, including the US, control arms exports, but there has never been an international treaty regulating the estimated $60 billion global arms trade. For more than a decade, activists and some governments have been pushing for international rules to try to keep illicit weapons out of the hands of terrorists, insurgent fighters and organized crime.
The UN General Assembly voted in December 2006 to work toward a treaty regulating the growing arms trade, with the US casting a “no” vote. In October 2009, the Obama administration reversed the Bush administration’s position and supported an assembly resolution to hold four preparatory meetings and a fourweek UN conference in 2012 to draft an arms trade treaty. (AP)