UN launches war on arms dealers

THE United Nations is to draw up an international treaty on small-arms control in an attempt to prevent the sale of weapons, which is flourishing in war zones despite individual embargoes.

The resolution says the lack of international standards in the arms trade "is a contributory factor to conflict, displacement of people, crime and terrorism".

Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, has been asked to authorise a group of experts to look into "establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms".

The resolution was adopted by the UN general assembly committee dealing with disarmament issues with 139 countries voting in favour and 24 abstentions, including Russia and China, both major arms-producing countries. There was one No vote, registered by the United States.

The decision means the next month will be spent drawing up a treaty which must then be approved by the general assembly.

Human-rights campaigners said the treaty would go a long way to keep small arms out of conflict zones.

Supporters of the UN action say such weapons can flow into conflict areas because of inconsistencies in current laws.

Jeremy Hobbs, the director of Oxfam International, which has been campaigning in favour of the treaty, said: "The world's governments have voted to end the scandal of the unregulated arms trade.

"Since the Control Arms campaign began three years ago, an estimated one million people have been killed by conventional weapons."

Existing export controls can be relatively easily circumvented by arms manufacturers, even in countries with supposed strict rules, by manufacturing the components of weapons in nations with lax laws.

Campaigners behind the resolution said they hoped the final treaty would compel countries to officially authorise all weapons transfers, improve compliance with previous treaties related to conventional weapons and also prohibit weapons transfers with countries likely to use the arms to violate their citizens' rights.

Kate Gilmore, Amnesty International's executive deputy secretary-general, said: "This massive vote to develop a global arms trade treaty is an historic opportunity for governments to tackle the scourge of irresponsible and immoral arms transfers.

"Any credible treaty must outlaw those transfers which fuel the systematic murder, rape, torture and expulsion of thousands of people."

The UK international development minister Gareth Thomas backed the move.

"All countries should support such a treaty as it offers the hope of a safer world where children are not scared to go to school," he said.

And Richard Grenell, a spokesman for the US mission to the United Nations, said: "The only way for a global arms trade treaty to work is to have every country agree on a standard.

"For us, that standard would be so far below what we are already required to do under US law that we had to vote against it in order to maintain our higher standards."

The resolution requests the UN secretary-general to seek the views of all UN member states and to submit a report to the general assembly in late 2007.