Urgent need to control illegal arms trade

From July 28 to August 8, the Group of Government Experts appointed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon will be holding their third and final meeting on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). India is one of the members of this 28 member group.

In the wake of the recent successes of international efforts and treaties to curb the use of landmines and cluster bombs, high hopes are being attached to the Arms Trade Treaty to check the rapid proliferation of arms, particularly illegal arms.The idea for an Arms Trade Treaty was developed initially by 18 Noble Peace Prize laureates from over a dozen countries.

This treaty stipulates that all international arms transfers should be authorised by the appropriate state authority.Secondly, governments have a responsibility to ensure that transfers do not directly violate their obligations under international law, and are not used illegally. Arms should not be used for breach of the UN charter, for serious violations of human rights or crimes against humanity, or adversely affect political stability and/or sustainable development.

When this agreement was put to vote in 2006, over 150 countries supported this treaty, over 20 abstained, while the USA opposed it.

India has suffered heavily due to the influx of foreign arms. The known countries of origin of illicit arms smuggled into the Northeast of India include China, USA, Russia, Belgium, UK, Czechoslovakia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Thailand, Cambodia and Bangladesh. According to the Home Ministry, arms recovered from terrorists/militants in Jammu and Kashmir during 1990-2004 included 36,273 AK rifles and pistols, 996 Universal machine guns and 774 rocket launchers.

An Arms Trade Treaty would help to check and reduce such illicit arms trade and the human distress related to it. But with benefits would come obligations too. The arms exports made by India to Myanmar would not be permissible under this treaty as their use would be likely to involve serious human rights violations. India abstained from voting for an Arms Trade Treaty in October 2006 but it is one among the Group of Governmental Experts selected by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to work towards the feasibility, scope and parameters of an Arms Trade Treaty.

In its submission to the United Nations Secretary General’s request for views, India wrote: “Although India’s security interests have also been affected by illicit and irresponsible transfers, the Government of India is not convinced that it is the common international standards on trade in conventional arms alone that results in irresponsible or illicit trade…

“Only by eliminating the illicit trade can we address the basic malaise. It is the lack of full and effective implementation of existing obligations of states and not the lack of common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms that is to be blamed for illicit transfer or diversion for licit transfers to illicit trade…

“In conclusion, India believes that it is premature to begin work on a comprehensive, legally binding instrument establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms.” It is in the context of this debate on the ATT that the Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI), an NGO working on disarmament-related issues in India, organised a conference on ‘India, Sustainable Development and ATT’ in New Delhi on July 3 and 4.

Binalakshmi Nepram, Secretary General of CAFI, said that around 8 million new small arms are manufactured every year, but far more significant is the movement of second-hand guns from one user to another. About 16 billion bullets are manufactured every year, more than two bullets per person on earth. Yet there is more regulation in the music and film industry than in arms.

Dr. Anuradha Chenoy of Jawaharlal Nehru University said that the concept of national security should be extended to include the security concerns of ordinary people, who face enormous distress due to armed conflicts and proliferation of arms. She said that the ATT in no way targets the legitimate security needs of countries and should be supported.

However, some reservations about the ATT as proposed at present, were also expressed by government representatives. Lt. Gen. (retd.) B.S. Malik tried to resolve the differences by saying that we should distinguish between the difficulties of the treaty and the overall need for such a treaty.

As long as the need for such a treaty is accepted, any specific difficulties, problems or concerns regarding the proposed treaty can be resolved at the on-going negotiations and talks.