Supporters of a world arms trade treaty said significant progress had been made as nations concluded the first round of talks on Friday on a pact meant to regulate the US$55 billion global weapons market.
All UN countries had now accepted the principle of a treaty, delegates said.
Arms control campaigners say one person every minute dies as a result of armed violence, and a convention is needed to prevent illicitly traded guns from pouring into conflict zones and fueling wars.
After years of debate, the UN General Assembly last October authorized formal talks. The past two weeks have seen the first of four preparatory sessions, with a four-week conference planned for 2012 to negotiate a treaty.
Supporters aim to set common rules for international arms sales — from rifles to fighter planes — to replace a patchwork of national laws riddled with loopholes that make it easy to buy weapons to fuel conflict.
A paper issued by conference chairman Roberto Garcia Moritan of Argentina after the talks said the goal was to “prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit transfer, production and brokering of conventional arms.”
Key issues in the negotiations will include the criteria governments will have to fulfill to get a green light for arms transactions and mechanisms to monitor compliance.
Some countries have been slow to commit to a treaty. Major arms producers Russia, China, India and Pakistan were among 19 nations that abstained in last year’s General Assembly vote, and delegates said Pakistan, Iran and Egypt were among nations still hesitant, concerned the rules could be politicized.
But French delegate Eric Danon told reporters: “The principle of an arms trade treaty is now agreed by all the countries, even if some countries made reservations on some aspects ... That’s the main achievement of this session.”
Diplomats said it was still not guaranteed that the 2012 conference would produce a treaty, and even if it did, it was unlikely to put a complete stop to rogue governments and militants seeking black market options.
Western delegates said a shift in support of a treaty by the US, which controls between one half and two thirds of global arms sales, had been critical in getting negotiations under way.
Washington agreed to join the drafting process only on condition that it be run on the basis of consensus — effectively giving it, and all other countries, a veto.
The principles drafted by Garcia Moritan say national governments would continue to regulate domestic arms sales — a stipulation essential for the US, where the right to private gun ownership is a sensitive domestic political issue.
Nevertheless, US President Barack Obama’s decision to back the talks reversed the stance of the previous Bush administration, which had argued that national controls were better.
Advocacy groups welcomed the progress made at the UN talks so far but urged member states to develop a draft treaty before the next preliminary session next February.
“While much work remains to be done ... a majority of states has clearly recognized the need for the treaty to reduce the human suffering caused by the absence of global standards and irresponsible transfers of arms,” said Maria Pia Devoto of Argentina’s Association for Public Policy.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
RSS