 |
World
top 5 arms exporters ©John Saeki/Adrian Leung (AFP)
|
A
treaty laying down international rules for the US$85 billion dollar global arms
trade goes into force on Wednesday with campaigners vowing to make sure it is
strictly implemented.
AFP reports the
United States -- by far the world's largest arms producer and exporter -- has
signed the treaty, but has yet to ratify it.
Other
key exporters such as France, Britain and Germany have ratified the charter and
pledged to adhere to its strict criteria aimed at cutting off weapons supplies
to human rights violators worldwide.
"For
too long, arms and ammunition have been traded with few questions asked about
whose lives they will destroy," said Anna MacDonald, director of the
Control Arms coalition of non-governmental organizations.
"The
new Arms Trade Treaty which enters into force this week will bring that to an
end."
"It
is now finally against international law to put weapons into the hands of human
rights abusers and dictators," she said.
A
total of 130 countries have signed the treaty and 60 have ratified it,
including Israel which joined the movement just this month.
Campaigners
however say much work lies ahead to implement the treaty, with a first meeting
of the states parties to the treaty to be held around September next year.
 |
A total of 130 countries have signed the treaty and
60 have ratified the new Arms Trade Treaty. Amnesty International noted that
five of the top 10 arms exporters -- France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain have
ratified the ATT, but China and Russia have yet to sign on ©Luis Robayo
(AFP)
|
Decisions
will have to be made about the financing mechanisms for the pact and setting up
a secretariat to oversee its implementation.
Amnesty
International noted that five of the top 10 arms exporters -- France, Germany,
Italy, Spain and Britain – have ratified the ATT. China and Russia have yet to
sign on.
The
first major arms accord since the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,
the ATT covers international transfers of everything from tanks to combat
aircraft to missiles, as well as small arms.
The
treaty compels countries to set up national controls on arms exports. States
must assess whether a weapon could be used to circumvent an international
embargo, be used for genocide and war crimes or be used by terrorists and
organized crime.
"If robustly implemented, this treaty has the potential to save many lives and offer much needed protection to vulnerable civilians around the world," said MacDonald.
No comments:
Post a Comment