U.S. stands alone in opposing small arms treaty

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U.S. stands alone in opposing small arms treaty
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U.S. stands alone in opposing small arms treaty
At an October 27 meeting at the United Nations, the majority of the world’s governments took the first step towards a global Arms Trade Treaty to prevent international arms transfers that critics says fuels conflict, poverty, and serious human rights violations worldwide. The vote comes three years after the launch of a campaign which has seen over a million people in 170 countries calling for a treaty.

The vote in the UN General Assembly’s First Committee is the first time that governments have voted on the proposal to develop an Arms Trade Treaty, and support was overwhelming: 139 voted yes. Support was particularly strong in Africa, Latin America and Europe. The United States stood along among the world's nations in voting against the proposal.

An estimated 640 million conventional weapons exist in the world today. The small-arms trade is estimated to be a $4 billion business annually.

The Vatican had expressed strong support for the effort to regulate the sale of conventional weapons, saying light arms and small-caliber weapons have been used to harm millions of people in recent decades. Conventional weapons are an element in every civil conflict and constitute "one of the most common instruments in most violations of human rights and disrespect for international law," said an October 10 Vatican statement.

According to the statement: "Indiscriminate sale or transfer of conventional weapons is an inseparable part of problems connected with international terrorism, illegal trafficking of precious or strategic resources, and the most abject manifestations of organized crime such as trafficking of human beings or drugs," it said.

The Vatican statement argued that weapons cannot be considered as just another commodity to be bought and sold on global markets.

"Their possession, production and trade have deep ethical and social implications, and they must be regulated by paying due attention to specific principles of the moral and legal order," it said.

Work on the Treaty will begin in early 2007 when the new UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, will begin to canvass the views of all member states to establish the foundations of the Treaty.

Going into the vote, the resolution was co-sponsored by 116 governments; a huge number for such a bold initiative. Fifteen Nobel Peace Prize Laureates supported the call for an Arms Trade Treaty in a statement issued by the Arias Foundation and the Control Arms Campaign.

"This massive vote to develop a global Arms Trade Treaty is an historic opportunity for governments to tackle the scourge of irresponsible and immoral arms transfers. Any credible Treaty must outlaw those transfers, which fuel the systematic murder, rape, torture and expulsion of thousands of people," said Kate Gilmore, Amnesty International’s Executive Deputy Secretary General.

"Today, the world’s governments have voted to end the scandal of the unregulated arms trade. Since the Control Arms campaign began three years ago, an estimated one million people have been killed by conventional weapons. In response, over a million campaigners from over 170 countries have called for an Arms Trade Treaty. Today governments answered that call," said Jeremy Hobbs, Director of Oxfam International.

"We have come a long, long way since three years ago when we launched the Control Arms campaign: in those days the prospect of an Arms Trade Treaty being negotiated in the UN was viewed as idealistic at best. But today we are in the majority. Now this victory must be converted into a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty based on States’ commitments under international law," said Rebecca Peters, Director of IANSA.

Read the resolution text here [PDF file]

Vote Results

Resoultion Cosponsors	In Favour	Against	Abstained	Did Not Vote
Total: 116	Total: 137	Total: 1	Total: 24	Total: 28
Afghanistan Albania Andorra Angola Argentina Australia Austria Azerbajian Belgium Belize Benin Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chile Colombia Comoros Congo-Brazzaville Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Cyprus Czech republic Denmark Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Guatemala Guinea - Konakry Guinea-Bissau Haiti Honduras Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Japan Kenya Latvia Lesotho Liberia Liechstenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Mali Malta Mexico Monaco Montenegro Nertherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Norway Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Phillipines Poland Portugal Republic of Moldova Romania Rwanda San Marino Samoa Senegal Serbia Sierra Leone Slovakia Slovenia South Africa Spain St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Tanzania Togo Trinidad and Tobago Turkey Tuvalu Uganda United Kingdom Ukraine Uruguay Zambia	Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Australia Austria Azerbajan Bangladesh Barbados Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Chile Colombia Congo-Brazzaville Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Cyprus Czech republic Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea - Konakry Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hungary Iceland Indonesia Ireland Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan, Kenya Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechstenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Nauru Nertherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Norway Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Phillipines Poland Portugal Rep Korea Republic of Moldova Romania Rwanda San Marino Senegal Serbia Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa Spain Sri Lanka St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Tanzania Thailand The Former Y R Macedonia Timor Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Uganda UK Ukraine Uruguay Zambia	United States of America	Bahrain Belarus China Cuba Djibouti Egypt India Iran Iraq Israel Kuwait Libya Nepal Oman Pakistan Qatar Russia Saudi Somalia Sudan Syria UAE Venezuela Yemen	Armenia Bahamas Botswana Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic People's Republic of Korea Democratic Republic of Congo Dominica Gabon Kiribati Kyrgyzstan Laos Marshall Islands Mauritania Myanmar Namibia Samoa Sao Tome and Principe Seychelles St. Kitts and Nevis, Tajikistan Turkmenistán Tuvalu Uzbekistán Vanuatu Vietnam Zimbabwe

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