Negotiations on the first global arms trade treaty represent an “historic opportunity” to reduce armed violence around the world, according to Act for Peace, the international aid agency of the National Council of Churches in Australia.
The negotiations, which kicked off at the United Nations in New York today and continue over the next few days, involve representatives of about 150 countries.
Alistair Gee, executive director of Act for Peace, says the negotiations give the world a chance to “reach an agreement on an arms trade treaty that will save lives” and as well as leading to fewer deaths, could also stop the flow of arms which fuel conflicts like that taking place in Syria.
“Currently there is nothing in place to prevent the sale of weapons to regimes where they could be used to kill civilians,” he says. “Without this treaty, countries like Russia would be free to continue to sell arms to Syria without regard to the devastation taking place there.”
Act for Peace says that as co-author of the draft treaty, Australia has played a significant role in bringing the treaty negotiations to their final stages. However, they say there are “significant loopholes” in the current wording which would undermine its effectiveness.
“We need a strong, tightly worded treaty – the kind that we and others have campaigned for for more than 10 years – to see the flow of weapons made illegal if there is a risk of human rights abuses,” says Mr Gee. ” The conflict we are seeing in Syria, and conflicts in South Sudan and Somalia, may not have escalated so severely if such criteria already existed.”
Act for Peace say there are currently more regulations governing the world banana trade than the arms trade.
