Arms Trade Treaty

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The Arms Trade Treaty (Engl. The Arms Trade Treaty , ATT ) is the name of a multilateral treaty, the international trade in conventional arms is to regulate. The agreement was passed on April 2, 2013. At the time of signing or depositing the document, the states Antigua and Barbuda , Denmark , Germany ( Federal Law Gazette 2013 II p. 1426, 1427 ), Estonia , Finland , Iceland , Latvia , Mexico , Norway , Austria ( Federal Law Gazette III No. 116 / 2014 ), Serbia , Slovakia , Spain , Trinidad and Tobago , Hungary and the United Kingdom declares that they will comply with Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty (prohibition of the transfer of weapons and ammunition and their evaluation) until they come into force on December 24, 2014 will apply provisionally for themselves. By September 2016, 88 states had ratified the treaty and another 45 had signed it.

origin

Signed (yellow), ratified (green)

The idea was developed in 2003 by a group of Nobel Peace Prize winners led by Óscar Arias . In December 2006, the UN General Assembly passed resolution 61/89 “Towards an Arms Trade Treaty: Establishing Common International Standards for the Import, Export and Transfer of Conventional Arms”.

development

Resolution 61/89 called on the UN Secretary-General to gather together the views of member states on the feasibility, scope and provisional criteria for a comprehensive, legally binding instrument for setting common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional weapons and the To present a report to the General Assembly at its 62nd meeting. 94 states have submitted their ideas, which are included in the 2007 report.

Member State support

153 member states voted in favor of resolution 61/89. On October 18, 2006, British Ambassador John Duncan presented the resolution to the First Committee on behalf of the co-authors ( Argentina , Australia , Costa Rica , Finland , Japan and Kenya ). On behalf of the EU , Finland backed the resolution by saying “every day, everywhere, people are affected by the side effects of irresponsible arms transfers. […] As there is currently no comprehensive, internationally binding instrument available to create an agreed regulatory framework for this activity, the EU welcomes the growing support for an ATT in all parts of the world. "

24 countries abstained: Egypt, Bahrain, China, India, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Yemen, Qatar, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, Marshall Islands, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Sudan , Syria, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Belarus. The United States of America voted against the resolution.

Several countries gave explanations of their vote: Jamaica, Cuba, Venezuela, China, India, Iran, Algeria, Libya, Russia, Israel, Pakistan and Costa Rica.

USA change previous position

On October 14, 2009, the Obama administration announced in a statement by Hillary Clinton and the State Department that it would change the position of the administration of former President George W. Bush, who opposed a proposed arms trade deal the reason that national controls are better. The redefinition of the position of the USA, the world's largest arms exporter with an annual trade of US $ 55 billion in conventional weapons (40 percent of global trade), led to the initiation of formal negotiations at the United Nations to develop the Arms Trade Treaty. Hillary Clinton stated that the US would support the negotiations if “all decisions are made by consensus in order to commit all countries to the standards that contribute to a noticeable improvement in the global situation.” Such a consensus solution with the possibility of veto for each country is necessary "so that the treaty does not keep any back doors open for those who want to operate irresponsible arms exports."

Negotiations and adoption

The contract was unsuccessfully negotiated at a global conference under the auspices of the United Nations from July 2 to 27, 2012 in New York . On November 7, 2012, the UN General Assembly decided by an overwhelming majority to resume negotiations from March 18 to 28, 2013. On April 2, 2013, the agreement was passed by 154 votes to 3 with 23 abstentions and will come into force on December 24, 2014 after ratification by 50 UN member states. The international legal provisions only apply to the ratifying states. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea , Iran and Syria voted against the agreement.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b zeit.de: United Nations: UN resolve arms trade agreement . April 2, 2013 (accessed April 2, 2013)
  2. ↑ Announcement of April 8, 2014 on the provisional application of the Arms Trade Treaty ( Federal Law Gazette II p. 353 )
  3. ↑ a b Announcement on the entry into force of the Arms Trade Treaty ( BGBl. 2014 II p. 1283 )
  4. ↑ 61/89 United Nations German Translation Service (PDF; 544 kB)
  5. ↑ A / 62/278
  6. ^ “Every day, and everywhere, people are affected by side effects of irresponsible arms transfers. [...] As there is currently no comprehensive internationally binding instrument available to provide an agreed regulatory framework for this activity, the EU welcomes the growing support, in all parts of the world, for an ATT. " - “Statement by HE Mr. Kari Kahiluoto, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Finland to the Conference on Disarmament, on behalf of the European Union, UN 61st Session; First Committee, Thematic Discussion: Conventional Weapons, October 12, 2006, New York. ” ( Memento of the original from August 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 3, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.europa-eu-un.org
  7. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / daccess-dds-ny.un.org
  8. ↑ "Draft Resolutions from the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security 2006, October 2- October 31, 2006, Voting Results Chart." ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Reaching Critical Will. Retrieved October 3, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.reachingcriticalwill.org
  9. ↑ US reverses stance on treaty to regulate arms trade . In: Reuters , October 15, 2009. 
  10. ↑ US Backs Arms Trade Treaty at UN, Abandoning Bush Opposition . In: Bloomberg , October 30, 2009. 
  11. ↑ US Backs Arms Trade Treaty at UN, Abandoning Bush Opposition . In: Bloomberg , October 30, 2009. 
  12. ↑ Arms trade agreement: UN conference on arms trade failed at Abendblatt.de, July 28, 2012 (accessed on September 13, 2012).
  13. ↑ UN members agree on a draft weapons agreement at Abendblatt.de, July 25, 2012 (accessed on September 13, 2012).
  14. ↑ A / C.1 / 67 / L.11 (PDF; 30 kB) at reaching critical will (accessed on February 3, 2013)
  15. ↑ For an international arms trade treaty - Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at Auswaertiges-amt.de (accessed on January 31, 2013)