Powers split on proposed arms trade treaty

The United Nations is responding positively to a call from peace activists and human rights organizations for a new international treaty to monitor the world's growing $1.1 trillion global arms trade. A resolution calling for the creation of a group of governmental experts to explore the feasibility of starting work on such a treaty has been gathering strong support. As of last week, "more than 80 governments have cosponsored the resolution, and many more are telling us they will support it," said Anna Macdonald, the manager of the Control Arms Campaign for Oxfam International. "The momentum behind the arms trade treaty is building." The lobbying is being led by Oxfam International, Amnesty International (AI) and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA.) The campaign, which is supported by 20 Nobel Peace laureates, has been working towards this vote for three years. The world's major arms manufacturers–described as the "worst culprits"–are also the most powerful in the United Nations, namely the five permanent members (P-5) of the Security Council: the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia. Asked what support the campaign has from the P-5, MacDonald said: "The permanent five are split on the treaty." She pointed out that Britain and France are "100 percent behind the treaty." Although Britain has been described as the world's second biggest arms exporter after the United States, it is also one of the resolution's co-sponsors. "However, Russia, China and the United States are among the key skeptics on the treaty," she added. Macdonald also said that three emerging arms exporters–Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania–have come out in support of the arms trade treaty for the first time. Other first time supporters include countries that have been devastated by armed violence, including Colombia, East Timor, Haiti, Liberia and Rwanda, she added. The resolution will come up for a vote soon in the UN's committee on disarmament and international security, and will later go before the 192-member General Assembly for ratification, perhaps by late November or early December. "Clearly, there's another week of discussions to go," said Macdonald, "But as it stands, the groundswell of support for the resolution is growing with every day that passes." In a statement released on Oct. 16, IANSA's UN Representative Mark Marge said: "Since we started the Control Arms Campaign three years ago, it is estimated that over a million people have been killed by guns and other small arms. Governments must get behind the Arms Trade Treaty." The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in June this year that US military spending in both Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to push global military expenditures to a new high in 2006: far above the current $1.1 trillion. According to SIPRI, the United States accounted for 48 percent of total military spending worldwide in 2005. The United States, France and Britain, three of the big powers at the United Nations, are all involved in costly overseas military operations, while the fourth big power, namely China, is modernizing its armed forces. "In these circumstances, there is a strong likelihood that the current upward trend in world military spending will be sustained in 2006," SIPRI said. Meanwhile, in a report released on Oct. 16, the London-based Amnesty International said that lax arms controls fuel conflict and suffering worldwide. "UN arms embargoes are like dams against tidal waves; alone they cannot stop weapons flooding in. Only a tough global Arms Trade Treaty could stem the flow of arms to the world's war zones," said Jeremy Hobbs, director of Oxfam International. The study points out that bullets from Greece, China, Russia and United States have been found in rebel hands in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "This is believed to be the first time that US and Greek bullets have been recovered from rebel groups in eastern DRC, highlighting the global sources of the arms fueling fighting in the region," AI said. AI's research, conducted last month, also reveals the origins of a sample of arms and ammunition recovered from rebel groups since the imposition of the UN arms embargo in 2003. Small arms made in Russia, China, Serbia and South Africa were also found. The study also said an estimated 3.9 million people have been killed as a result of conflict in the DRC since 1998. Fighting continues in eastern DRC despite a peace deal in 2002, fueled by weapons and ammunition from around the world. Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, said that rebel groups in the eastern DRC have "an appalling track record of rape, torture and killing of civilians as well as a history of using children as soldiers." "That bullets from so many countries have fueled these abuses is yet another indication that an arms trade treaty must become a reality," Khan added.