1. The UN Arms Trade Treaty: arms export controls, the human security agenda and the lessons of history
- Author:
- Mark Bromley, Paul Holtom, and Neil Cooper
- Publication Date:
- 09-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- The UN-led process aimed at negotiating an arms trade treaty (ATT), formally launched in 2006, reached the end of its mandate on 27 July 2012 after a four-week negotiating conference. The conference had been tasked with reaching consensus on an international treaty to establish the 'highest possible common international standards for the transfer of conventional arms'. Such a task was always going to be hard to achieve, but it was widely assumed that there was broad acceptance of a draft treaty text that was circulated on the penultimate day of the conference. However, on the final day the United States declared that the text needed further work and they proposed convening another conference to conclude negotiations. Russia, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela supported the US position. At the time of writing it is unclear whether the next stage in the ATT process will be a vote on the adoption of the draft treaty text in the General Assembly in December 2012, an additional round of UN negotiations or something else entirely.
- Political Geography:
- Russia, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela