Wednesday, April 3, 2013

U.N. approves global arms trade treaty



The UN General Assembly of April 2, 2013  adopted the resolution of Arm Trade Treaty , in a 154-to-3 vote.
 North Korea, Iran, and Syria voted against the resolution.

23 nations, including India , Cuba,  Myanmar, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Sudan also abstained from voting.

Pakistan voted in favour of the treaty though its representative expressed concerns over the imbalance in obligations between arms exporters and importers.

The Main aim  of this treaty is  to regulate the $70 billion business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers.

 Sujata Mehta, India’s Permanent representative to the Geneva Conference of Disarmament during the UNGA session said India cannot accept that the Treaty be used as an instrument in the hands of exporting states to take unilateral force majeure measures against importing states parties without consequences.


Under the ATT, ratifying nations are expected to accept fixed international standards for conventional weapons sales, linked to the protection of human rights. The adopted treaty text covers weapons such as tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large-calibre artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers, and small and light arms

No comments:

Post a Comment