Advocates from around the world call for Arms Trade Treaty by ICRC, Control Arms, UN News & agencies 8:07am 27th Aug, 2012   February 2013    Arms Trade: A Lethal Business and an Urgent Treaty, by Paloma Muñoz Quick.    While Americans debate President Barack Obama"s gun control plan, a much bigger debate is going on worldwide that few Americans are aware of—whether to restrict the global trade in conventional weapons.    There are more laws governing the international trade of bananas and coffee than of arms, despite the fact that 1,500 people are killed daily from armed violence and six out of 10 human rights abuses involve light weapons.    March will be the last chance for United Nations (UN) Member States to fill this legal gap and set up global rules for the trade in weapons by negotiating and adopting a long awaited Arms Trade Treaty.    Although President Obama’s administration has come out in support of the treaty, the administration faces strong opposition from the National Riffle Association (NRA), which has vowed to fight the adoption of a treaty on the grounds that it would not protect Americans Second Amendment rights. Yet, the treaty applies only to international arms transfers and not to internal gun laws in signatory countries. The NRA’s opposition represents not the voice of American citizens, but that of an arms industry that directly profits from gun sales at home and abroad.    UN treaty negotiations, which began in July 2012, have focused solely on the role of states, forgetting a major stakeholder in the arms trade: companies. Human rights are increasingly the business of corporations, and not addressing the role of industry in the treaty is a mistake.    Companies are the lifeblood of the global arms trade, with European and U.S. companies dominating the industry. In 2010, the total sales of the top 100 arms companies reached $ 411.1bn. Of these companies, 44 were U.S.-based, and together accounted for 60 percent of all arms sales that year.    The arms trade isn’t just big business; it’s too often a lethal one, too. The Russian-owned arms company, Rosoboronexport, has been Syria’s main weapons supplier since 2007. In the absence of global regulation or UN arms embargo, the company has been able to operate freely, and Syria’s arms imports have since increased more than five times compared to the previous five-year period. Human Rights Watch, an international NGO, argues that the company could be considered complicit in the crimes against humanity carried out by the Syrian government.    Shipping companies dominate the international transport in weapons and many of them have been caught shipping weapons from or destined to states under UN sanctions. In 2009, for example, the United Arab Emirates seized a ship bound for Iran carrying 10 containers of North Korean-manufactured arms disguised as oil equipment. The ship was owned by an Australian subsidiary of a French company and sailed under a Bahamian flag; a perfect illustration of the complex jurisdiction involved in policing the arms trade, made all the more difficult by the lack of global laws regulating companies operating in the trade.    Like shipping companies, private security companies undermine regulations on arms transfers. The American-owned Blackwater, for example, provided guns as gifts to the King of Jordan and exported ammunition to Iraq and Afghanistan without U.S. government approval. Conversely, governments can use these companies to undermine arms embargoes. In 2012, the UN noted that member states are failing to respect the arms embargo on Somalia by allowing private security companies in their jurisdiction to train Somali forces accused of human rights abuses. By effectively regulating the global arms trade, loopholes of this kind can be addressed.    Human rights, although traditionally the responsibility of States, are now also the business of companies. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights—unanimously adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011—set that in stone. The principles provide a roadmap for states on how to ensure that companies—including those operating in the arms trade—respect human rights both at home and abroad. They state that governments have the responsibility to reference the Guiding Principles when negotiating on issues of international trade to ensure that all countries speak one human rights and business language, helping to minimize the human rights impacts of global trade.    When UN Member States began to negotiate the treaty, most of them failed to reference the Guiding Principles. March, therefore, will be the last chance for governments concerned with protecting human rights to fill the private sector gap in the draft treaty and live up to the standards set by the principles. To do this, UN Member States, including the United States, should reference the Guiding Principles in the treaty’s preamble, and then approve the treaty. Doing so will ensure that international law regulating the arms trade is clear and robust, helping to close the loopholes and grey zones in which companies engaged in the arms trade operate, and giving the heart of the treaty—safeguarding human rights—a fighting chance of success.    * Paloma Muñoz Quick is a Human Rights and Business Advisor at the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), researching and writing about the various ways in which business leads to peace and conflict, including their role in the arms trade.    July 2012 (UN News)    At a historic gathering on regulating conventional arms, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Member States to urgently work towards a treaty to regulate the trade in such weapons, stressing that a set of rules on this matter is long overdue.    Mr. Ban told Member States at the opening of the first UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty. “Nuclear issues capture headlines, but conventional arms are killing people everyday.”    Mr. Ban said that poorly regulated international arms transfers are fuelling civil conflicts, destabilizing regions, and empowering terrorists and criminal networks.    Taking place at UN Headquarters in New York, the Conference has brought together the UN’s 193 Member States to negotiate what is seen as the most important initiative ever regarding conventional arms regulation within the United Nations.    “An Arms Trade Treaty aims to regulate international arms transfers by requiring all States to abide by a set of standards for international arms transfer controls, which will ultimately benefit the safety and security of people everywhere in the world”.    At the end of 2010, an estimated 27.5 million people were internally displaced as a result of conflict, while millions more have sought refuge abroad. In many cases, the armed violence that drove them from their homes was fuelled by the widespread availability and misuse of weapons.    “An agreed set of standards for arms exports along with strict national legislation can help begin to change this,” Mr. Ban said. “But it will do more. From promoting social and economic development to supporting peacekeeping and peacebuilding; from monitoring sanctions and arms embargoes to protecting children and civilians; from promoting women’s empowerment to fostering the rule of law.”    “Our common goal is clear: a robust and legally binding Arms Trade Treaty that will have a real impact on the lives of those millions of people suffering from the consequences of armed conflict, repression and armed violence,” Mr. Ban added.    Mr. Ban also praised representatives from non-governmental organizations that have petitioned for arms treaty negotiations.    “With your petitions and declarations, you are reminding the world that we urgently need to act.” Mr. Ban said. “I honoured to receive appeals from citizens from around the world who are pressing the United Nations, and Member States, to address urgent issues.”    In February, the heads of several UN agencies – including the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – called for a comprehensive arms trade treaty that requires States to assess the risk that serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law may be committed with weapons being transferred.    This includes within its scope all conventional weapons, including small arms; and ensures that there are no loopholes by covering all types of transfers, including activities such as transit, trans-shipment, as well as loans and leases.    http://www.un.org/disarmament/ATT/    UN chief backs strong Arms Trade Treaty. (Amnesty International)    UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised activists for their campaign to achieve a strong Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).    He was speaking at UN headquarters in New York after receiving a petition from the Control Arms coalition with over 600,000 signatures. The petition calls for an effective treaty to end the irresponsible and poorly regulated arms trade.    Earlier, the UN Secretary General officially opened the crucial month-long negotiations between governments to agree a treaty.    “We need to act now to end the widespread human suffering caused by the unregulated international arms trade,” said Ban Ki Moon.    Hundreds of thousands of supporters from Amnesty, Oxfam and other organizations from across the world had signed the petition, as part of the campaign to achieve an Arms Trade Treaty that protects human rights.    Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, urged Ban Ki-moon to do everything in his power to ensure an effective Arms Trade Treaty is achieved.    “We must finally put an end to the body bag approach, where arms embargoes are imposed only after the killing has already gone on far too long,” said Salil Shetty.    “People all over the world know that we must have a treaty which addresses the cause of the problem, not just the result.”    Millions of people are killed, injured, raped, repressed and forced to flee their homes every year as a result of the irresponsible and poorly regulated arms trade.    There are currently no comprehensive legally binding international rules governing the global trade in conventional arms, and gaps and loopholes are common in both national and regional controls.    Amnesty International wants to see a treaty that makes clear arms must not be transferred where there is substantial risk that they will be used to commit or facilitate serious human rights abuses.    Ban Ki-moon was also presented with declarations from senior religious leaders, medical professionals and prominent parliamentarians calling for a strong treaty.    People from all over the world are increasing the pressure on their leaders to deliver a strong ATT.    http://www.amnesty.org/en/campaigns/control-arms    July 2012    Time to end ‘body bag’ approach to arms control and support a robust Arms Trade Treaty. (Control Arms Coalition)    Political leaders the opportunity to place human rights and humanitarian aims above self-interest and profit.    The Control Arms Coalition, which includes Amnesty International, Oxfam and organizations from more than 125 countries, called on governments to agree a treaty with strong rules to ensure respect for international human rights and humanitarian law.    On average one person dies every minute as a result of armed violence, with thousands more abused and injured every day.    “In Syria, Sudan and the Great Lakes of Africa, the world is now once again bearing witness to the horrific human cost of the reckless and overly-secret arms trade.    Why should millions more people be killed and lives devastated before leaders wake up and take decisive action to properly control international arms transfers?” said Brian Wood, Amnesty International Arms Control and Human Rights Manager.    “The Arms Trade Treaty negotiations are an acid test for political leaders to face up to the reality and agree rules leading to the end of irresponsible arms transfers that fuel grave abuses of human rights.”    A failure to deliver a comprehensive Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) will result in many more millions of civilians being killed, injured, raped and forced to flee their homes as a direct result of the irresponsible and poorly regulated trade in arms.    For decades people in every region have borne the cost of the more than USD 60 billion arms trade which also fuels armed-conflict and violence, corruption and severely weakens progress on development.    “We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to truly make the world a safer place. This isn’t just any Treaty, but one that can rein in a trade that is spiralling out of control at the moment,” said Anna Macdonald, Oxfam’s Head of Arms Control Campaign.    “From Congo to Libya, from Syria to Mali, all have suffered from the unregulated trade in weapons and ammunition allowing those conflicts to cause immeasurable suffering and go on far too long,” Macdonald added.    There are currently no comprehensive legally binding international rules governing the global trade in conventional arms, and gaps and loopholes are common in both national and regional controls.    Campaigners from around the world are determined to make governments put an end to the ‘body bag’ approach, which in some cases sees arms embargoes imposed by the UN Security Council, but even then, only after reckless arms trading has fuelled a human catastrophe.    Instead, an ATT is urgently needed that will prevent arms transfers that fuel human rights abuses, poverty and conflict.    For the ATT rules to to be effective it must require governments to strictly regulate the sale and transfer of all weapons, arms, munitions and related equipment used in military and internal security operations – from armoured vehicles, missiles and aircraft through to small arms, grenades and ammunition.    Governments must be required to undertake rigorous risk assessments prior to any authorization of an international arms transfer or transaction, and publicly report on all authorizations and deliveries. Trading without permission or illegally diverting arms should be made a criminal or other offence under national laws.    Those that fail to comply with treaty obligations should be held to account.    “It is an absurd and deadly reality that there are currently global rules governing the trade of fruit and dinosaur bones, but not ones for the trade of guns and tanks,” said Jeff Abramson, the Director of the Control Arms Secretariat.    “Advocates from around the world are speaking out for governments and ministers to negotiate an Arms Trade Treaty that will save lives with both strong policies and direct impact on the ground,” Abramson added.    Amnesty International has highlighted how the world’s ‘Big Six’ arms suppliers, – China, France, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom and USA – supply large quantities of weapons to repressive governments across the world, despite the substantial risk the arms would be used to commit serious human rights violations. This included US arms supplies to Egypt and Bahrain as well as Russian and Chinese arms to Sudan.    Oxfam recently published research showing the impact the annual global USD4 billion trade in ammunition has on the poorest people in the world, particularly those living in conflict-hit or fragile states such as Afghanistan and Somalia.    Most governments want to see a strong treaty text, but some have been trying to weaken the treaty rules and definitions. The United States, China, Syria, and Egypt have voiced their opposition to including ammunition. China wants to exclude small arms and “gifts” while several Middle East governments oppose human rights criteria in the treaty.    http://www.controlarms.org/news    July 2012    Arms Trade Treaty: arms and ammunition are not just another form of commercial goods - Statement by Christine Beerli, Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, United Nations Diplomatic Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, New York, July 2012:    http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/statement/2012/att-arms-availability-statement-2012-07-03.htm    June 2012 (Control Arms)    Unregulated arms cause serious human rights abuses, poverty and war crimes; small arms alone kill more people every year than the atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.    They paralyze health, education and other services. The world needs a solid ATT that prevents the transfer of small arms, weapons and munitions if they are likely to contribute to the loss of human rights, lives and livelihoods.    One person dies every minute from armed violence. In that same minute, 15 new arms are manufactured. This has to stop.    Parliamentarians from around the World support a Strong Arms Trade Treaty    More than 1,300 parliamentarians from 54 countries have signed the Control Arms Global Parliamentarian Declaration on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The Members of Parliament, Senators, and other legislators who have become signatories endorse the notion of a strong Arms Trade Treaty and have pledged their support in making the robust, legally binding instrument a global reality.    Parliamentarians are the voices and representatives of the citizens who vote for them. Which means that their endorsement includes the support of hundreds of thousands of citizens worldwide.    More and more parliamentarians are supporting the Declaration every day, proclaiming their support for a Treaty that protects lives and livelihoods around the world. Visit the related web page
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