News
UN Arms Trade Treaty – negotiations now underway!
Starting this week (July 2-27), nations of the world are convened in New York City for final negotiations on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
The world will be watching to see if states can agree to a strong and humanitarian-based ATT that will help prevent injuries and deaths worldwide from armed violence.
According to a press release dated May 04, 2012 by the Eastern Africa Action Network on Small Arms (EAANSA) in Kampala-Uganda, this diplomatic conference presents the chance of a generation to truly make a difference. The new Arms Trade Treaty must be robust enough to have a genuine impact on the lives of tens of thousands of innocent civilians suffering from armed violence every single day.
A weak treaty would be worse than no treaty at all as this would merely legitimize the existing flawed system.
To read more about the importance of a comprehensive and legally binding criteria for arms transfers, the Oxfam International publication, "The Devil is in the Detail" can be downloaded here.
For more on the ongoing discussions, please visit the Arms Trade Treaty legal blog.
