15 March 2013 - Governments must join together to address loopholes in the current Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) text if the world is to secure a treaty that is strong enough to prevent lives being destroyed by the arms trade. This is the message from a group of arms control experts from Africa, China and Europe on the eve of UN-led diplomatic negotiations which start on Monday.

Members of the group, who have served extensively in national police forces, national militaries, national arms control programmes, UN peacekeeping missions, arms embargo monitoring groups and in various international security research programmes, are calling for UN member states to work together and secure a strong and robust ATT.

“In areas of severe armed conflict whole communities are displaced, humanitarian emergencies are triggered, economic development is postponed and international law is frequently violated.” the experts jointly state “The costs of instability are not bound by borders: China, Africa and Europe are hugely divergent but we are in this together.”

“If countries were to adopt a common set of robust and legally-binding standards they would demonstrate not only their shared responsibility for the harmful effects of the arms trade, but also their shared interest in bringing it under control. This is the aim of the ATT and this is why we support it.”

Negotiations around an ATT last July indicated that there was significant common ground among most member states. However, further work must be done to build on the draft text from last year and ensure that key loopholes within the current text are addressed.

“We recognise that states have different opinions on various aspects of its contents and that further exchanges between states’ representatives are required. As a group of global experts we urge them to show both courage and compromise to make sure that the final treaty is effective and of the highest possible standard.”

A major weakness within the draft text is that many categories of conventional arms are ignored, while controls on ammunitions are only partial. The current treaty is also ambiguous around the sale of arms when there is a risk of violating international law. The risk that weapons can be diverted to unauthorised end-users also needs to be taken far more seriously.

Read the comment piece here in English and here in Chinese. 

Notes:

- Created in 2012, the Africa-China-EU Expert Working Group on Conventional arms is made up of nine high profile non-proliferation experts. It has been working together in an EU-supported project hosted by NGO Saferworld to promote dialogue, interaction and practical cooperation between Africa, China and the EU on conventional arms control.

- The 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) and Mr Claudio Gramizzi (Italy).