Obama Arms-Trade Treaty Shift Spurs Progress in First UN Talks
U.S. President Barack Obama makes a statement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. Photographer: Ron Sachs/Pool via Bloomberg
President Barack Obama’s support for a treaty to regulate the $55 billion-a-year trade in conventional weapons has spurred broad agreement on the elements of global regulation, diplomats said today.
“The principle of an arms trade treaty is now agreed by all countries, even if some have reservations,” Eric Danon, France’s envoy, said after two weeks of preliminary negotiations ended at the United Nations in New York. “Trying to have a comprehensive universal treaty in the arms trade is quite a new step in the history of the world.”
The U.S. voted in October to support UN-sponsored treaty talks, reversing President George W. Bush’s policy. Under Bush, the U.S. was the only nation to oppose a 2006 UN resolution to create an international treaty on the sale of small arms and light weapons. The Bush administration argued that national controls would be more effective.
The U.S. shift has contributed to consensus among the UN’s 192 member governments that a treaty is needed and that the negotiations will be successful, according to Danon and Roberto Garcia Moritan of Argentina, head of the talks.
“The evolution of all members, in particular of the main arms producer, is always important,” Moritan said.
The U.S. trade in conventional weapons amounts to 40 percent of the global total, according to Brian Wood, disarmament expert for London-based Amnesty International.
The Obama administration has also pursued reductions in nuclear weapons this year. The U.S. signed an arms-reduction treaty with Russia, pledged to limit potential use of atomic weapons, won commitments from 46 nations to protect stockpiles of uranium and plutonium, and reached agreement at the UN in May on ways to strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
‘Substantive Ideas’
“The U.S. made clear last October our desire to see a negotiation that would produce an effective Arms Trade Treaty as a means of addressing many of the enduring global challenges caused by unregulated arms,” Don Mahley, who represented the U.S., said in a statement. “We have been pleased with discussions thus far, in which many countries have shown willingness to present substantive ideas.”
The envisioned treaty would “establish the highest possible international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms,” Moritan said in a draft outline of a future accord. It would “prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit transfer, production and brokering” of such weapons.
Consensus Emerges
Diplomats said the talks were noteworthy for the absence of strong opposition by China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan and Russia. They have expressed some of the most serious concerns, based largely on the issue of potential infringement of their sovereignty.
“There is a common understanding that we need a treaty,” Khodadad Seifi Pargou, Iran’s delegate to the talks, said.
Moritan’s text said conventional weapons contribute to “armed conflict, serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, the displacement of people, transnational organized crime, terrorism and the illicit trade in narcotics.”
Amnesty International, U.K.-based Oxfam and leaders of dozens of arms-control advocacy groups released a statement saying the talks showed that “a majority of states has clearly recognized the need for the treaty.” The world is “one step closer to a treaty that will make it harder for warmongers and human rights abusers to obtain weapons,” the statement said.
The first round of talks will be followed by sessions in February and July 2011, and February 2012, before the final conference.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner at the United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page