Arms Trade Treaty

Every day, millions of people suffer from the consequences of armed violence. This violence is fuelled by unregulated global trade in arms and ammunition—enabling weapons to fall into the hands of dictators, criminals, drug traffickers and terrorists. The lack of oversight of the arms trade fuels conflict, corruption, poverty and human rights abuses.

Background

Every day, millions of people suffer from the consequences of armed violence. This violence is fuelled by unregulated global trade in arms and ammunition—enabling weapons to fall into the hands of dictators, criminals, drug traffickers and terrorists. The lack of oversight of the arms trade fuels conflict, corruption, poverty and human rights abuses. 

Sarah Lyons, National Engagement Officer at Oxfam Canada

Now we have the chance of a lifetime to change this picture. In July, all United Nations member states (195 countries) met to negotiate an international Arms Trade Treaty. There was majority support for a treaty that covered all conventional arms and ammunition and was based on international human rights and humanitarian law. Consensus was blocked by the United States and other countries needing more time. In November, an agreement was reached to hold a final UN conference on the ATT in March 2013. If consensus is not reached, the text will be sent for a final vote at the UN General Assembly later in 2013. Read more.

What do we want? 

The Control Arms Campaign (led in Canada by Oxfam, Amnesty International, and Project Ploughshares) wants the agreement to be legally-binding, comprehensive and based on existing international law and global norms. 

A legally-binding agreement would require the governments of all arms exporting and importing countries to review each weapons transfer. A comprehensive agreement would cover all conventional weapons and ammunition. And an agreement based on existing law would incorporate international human rights law, international humanitarian law, UN Security Council resolutions and principles enshrined in the UN Charter.

Chew this over. It's easier to trade in guns than bananas
Chew this over. It is easier to trade in guns than bananas.

Before now, the world has never agreed to have a set of international rules on arms trade. 

"We have the most complex and strict rules for trading iPods or bananas, but no global, internationally binding rules for guns, tanks or bullets," says Oxfam’s Deepayan Basu Ray.

In practice, this should mean that a transfer of weapons shall be denied when there is substantial risk that the weapons will be used for serious violations of international human rights, humanitarian law, or will adversely affect sustainable development or international peace and security.

Where does Canada stand?

Canada has been a quiet supporter of the UN negotiating process, helping to find consensus among countries. Canada spoke up to ensure that the treaty would not infringe on the rights of lawful gun-owners. But our country has yet to become a vocal champion of the treaty.

Now is the time to finally agree to these rules.

No kidding. There are over 300,00 child soldiers around the world
No kidding. There are over 300,000 child solders around the world.

Global petition presented

UN Secretary Gen Ban Ki-Moon opened the conference in July: "You will need to agree on robust criteria that would help lessen the risk that transferred weapons are used to commit violations of international humanitarian law or human rights. You will also need to define the scope of the Treaty to cover a comprehensive array of weapons and activities and that leaves no room for loopholes. Our common goal is clear: a robust and legally binding ATT that will have a real impact on the lives of those millions of people suffering from the consequences of armed conflict, repression and armed violence." 

Control Arms presented him the voices of over 600,000 people calling for a bulletproof Arms Trade Treaty.

 

Learn more

 

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