United Nations to Pursue International Arms Trade Treaty / Member States Agree to Begin Talks on ATT

DISARMAMENT: United Nations to Pursue Conventional Arms Trade Treaty

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 30 (IPS) – The United Nations, which is pursuing a proposal for “a world without nuclear weapons”, will soon turn its attention to another new goal in the field of disarmament: creating a legally-binding treaty on conventional arms.

The proposed new treaty, which is expected to be ready for a U.N. Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty in 2012, will regulate the global trade in conventional arms, including fighter planes, combat helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, warships, missiles, battle tanks and armoured personnel carriers.

By an overwhelming majority, the 192-member General Assembly adopted a resolution Friday (30/10/09), after years of negotiations, that sets the stage for “common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms”.

Some of the world’s biggest arms traders, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany, supported the resolution, which garnered 153 out of 192 votes.

The 19 states that abstained included two of the remaining major arms exporters, Russia and China, along with countries with active domestic arms industries: Egypt, India, Iran and Pakistan.

For the full article by Inter Press Serivce (IPS) published on 30 October 2009 please click HERE


United Nations backs negotiations on global arms trade treaty

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – United Nations members on Friday (30/10/09) overwhelmingly backed negotiations on a global treaty to regulate the world’s $55 billion weapons trade, but two big arms suppliers, Russia and China, refused to support the measure.

For the full article, published on 30 October 2009 on the Reuters website, please click HERE


United Nations agrees to begin talks on first arms trade treaty

New York (dpa) – The United Nations General Assembly‘s disarmament committee agreed on Friday (30/10/09) to begin discussions aimed at establishing an arms trade treaty with the support of some the world‘s biggest arms traders.

For the full article by German Press-Agency dpa, published on 30 October 2009 on earthtimes.org, please click HERE

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