Comment & analysis

Turning words into action: The Arms Trade Treaty deserves the world’s full support

15 October 2013

UN Member States should be congratulated on the rapid pace of signature and ratification of the Arms Trade Treaty so far, says a group of nine arms control experts from Africa, China and Europe. The international community must build on this and continue to pursue rapid entry-into-force and full implementation.

On 2 April 2013 the UN General Assembly adopted the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The Africa-China-EU Expert Working Group (EWG) on Conventional Arms welcomes the signing of the Treaty by an increasing number of UN member states, including the USA, which formally signed the treaty on 25 September. As the world’s biggest arms producer and exporter, the US has joined another 112 UN member states in committing themselves to the Treaty. Less than four months after opening for signature, progress has also been made towards its ratification. Seven countries have already ratified and a further raft of ratification is expected over the coming months. The treaty enters into force 90 days after 50 countries have deposited their instruments of ratification with the UN.

Adopted by an overwhelming majority of the UN General Assembly, the ATT is a historic achievement. It is the first ever multilateral treaty that creates a level playing field for the international arms trade by requiring all States to establish and abide by common standards in the international transfer of conventional arms, from small arms and light weapons to battle tanks, combat aircraft, warships, and ammunition. One of the strongest elements of the treaty is that it prohibits states from transferring arms when they know they would be used to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and acts of terrorism. It also requires states to prevent conventional weapons being diverted to the illicit market.

The ATT will not reverse history in ongoing or recent conflicts. But if implemented rigorously, it can help to prevent arms fuelling future conflicts, acts of terrorism, transnational organised crime and violations of international law. It will do this by making it much more difficult for warlords, pirates, organised criminal groups, human rights abusers and violators of the laws of war to acquire their weapons and ammunition. As such, it deserves the world’s full support.

The Africa-China-EU EWG calls on all countries to support the Treaty’s universalization by swiftly signing and taking concrete steps towards ratification.  The EWG also calls on states to establish or amend relevant national laws where necessary to ensure full implementation of the Treaty. This will enable the move from rhetorical commitment to concrete action that will reduce human suffering and foster international and regional peace, security and stability.

Contact: Bernardo Mariani, China Programme Manager and Africa-China-EU EWG Facilitator, Saferworld, bmariani@saferworld.org.uk, Tel: +43 680 31 21 217

This article was featured in Xinhua.

Find out more about the Africa-China-EU Expert Working Group.

The Africa-China-EU EWG members are: Ambassador (rtd) Ochieng Adala (Kenya), Major General (rtd) Daniel Deng Lual (South Sudan), Mr Richard Nabudere (Uganda), Major General (rtd) Zhu Chenghu (China), Professor Ouyang Liping (China), Mr Zhai Dequan (China), General (rtd) Henny van der Graaf (The Netherlands), Mr James Bevan (United Kingdom), Mr Claudio Gramizzi (Italy). Created in 2012, the mandate of the EWG is to identify and make practical policy recommendations on how the European Union, China and African governments can co-operate on matters related to conventional arms control. The views expressed here are of a personal capacity. 

“The ATT will not reverse history in ongoing or recent conflicts. But if implemented rigorously, it can help to prevent arms fuelling future conflicts, acts of terrorism, transnational organised crime and violations of international law. ”

Members of the Expert Working Group

Our cookies

We use cookies, which are small text files, to improve your experience on our website.
You can allow or reject non essential cookies or manage them individually.

Reject allAllow all

More options  •  Cookie policy

Our cookies

Allow all

We use cookies, which are small text files, to improve your experience on our website. You can allow all or manage them individually.

You can find out more on our cookie page at any time.

EssentialThese cookies are needed for essential functions such as logging in and making payments. Standard cookies can't be switched off and they don't store any of your information.
AnalyticsThese cookies help us collect information such as how many people are using our site or which pages are popular to help us improve customer experience. Switching off these cookies will reduce our ability to gather information to improve the experience.
FunctionalThese cookies are related to features that make your experience better. They enable basic functions such as social media sharing. Switching off these cookies will mean that areas of our website can't work properly.
AdvertisingThese cookies help us to learn what you're interested in so we can show you relevant adverts on other websites and track the effectiveness of our advertising.
PersonalisationThese cookies help us to learn what you're interested in so we can show you relevant content.

Save preferences