UN initiates arms trade agreement
By Susan Fay,WNS New York Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS - A United Nations committee has voted overwhelmingly to begin work on drawing up an international arms trade treaty. The measure would close loopholes in existing laws which mean guns still end up in conflict zones despite arms embargoes and export controls. It could also stop the supply of weapons to countries whose development is being hampered by arms spending. Only the US - a major arms manufacturer - voted against the treaty, saying it wanted to rely on existing agreements. A total of 139 states voted for the motion. There were 24 abstentions.
Major weapons manufacturers such as Britain, France and Germany voted to begin work on the treaty, as did major emerging arms exporters Bulgaria and Ukraine. Russia and China, also major arms manufacturers, were among the countries to abstain. The UK ambassador for disarmament at the UN, John Duncan, said the vote was "a great success". "We have 139 nations which have said: 'Yes, we want a responsible arms trade and we're prepared to discuss it in the UN, with both the consumers and the producers,'" he said.
The UN secretary general has one year to produce a report on how to introduce common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms. Human rights organisations have welcomed the move. Amnesty International described the vote as "an historic opportunity", saying "any credible treaty must outlaw those transfers, which fuel the systematic murder, rape, torture and expulsion of thousands of people". One of those campaigning for the treaty was Richard Wilson, whose sister was taken from a bus and shot dead in 2000, while working in Burundi as a school teacher.
posted by wnsworld @ 8:08 AM
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