More countries express reservations about UN draft on arms trade
Russia, China, India and Pakistan have joined a number of other countries including Iran to express serious reservations about the Western-backed draft of a new international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
Russia and China were reportedly among the growing number of nations to express grave concerns about the draft treaty, which failed to win the consensus of United Nations member states in a Thursday conference in New York.
Iran, North Korea and Syria were among the first countries that refused to endorse the proposed treaty, which was apparently pushed by Western arms producers, and described it as ‘discriminatory’ and ‘politically motivated,’ arguing that it contained serious flaws, such as the lack of mechanisms to ban weapon shipments to insurgents and terrorist gangs.
A number of other countries, including India and Pakistan, have also complained that the treaty, which is due to come to a UN General Assembly vote next week, saying that it favors weapon exporters to the detriment of importers.
Moscow, itself a major arms exporter, announced that in case the draft treaty wins the General Assembly vote next Tuesday, Russia will have to think hard on whether to sign it.
Addressing the final UN conference on the Arms Trade Treaty on Thursday, Iran’s envoy to the UN Mohammad Khazaei emphasized that despite efforts by the Islamic Republic to resolve various legal flaws in the draft treaty within the framework of constructive negotiations, the preparation of it was ‘politically motivated.’
The Iranian ambassador further noted that confronting acts of aggression was the core objective of the UN, but the current draft had ignored the demand by many nations to prohibit the transfer of arms to aggressors.
Certain paragraphs of the draft have been prepared in favor of a number of particular states, Khazaei added.
Nearly 2,000 government representatives, international and regional organizations and civil societies gathered at the UN headquarters in New York City to hammer out the details of the agreement, which was seen as the most important initiative ever on regulating conventional arms trade by the UN.
If passed, the trade treaty would apply to all conventional arms within the categories of battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, large-caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers, and small arms and light weapons, according to the draft text.
According to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, violence kills more than half a million people each year, including 66,000 women and girls. In addition, about 800 humanitarian workers were killed and nearly 700 injured in armed attacks across the world between 2000 and 2010.
