Arms treaty 'must protect human rights'

03 July 2012

European leaders are pushing for a United Nations arms trade treaty to include considerations for the human rights implications of the global weapons industry.

Representatives from over 150 countries are attending a four-week UN conference attempting to draft a legally binding treaty creating basic standards for all arms producing nations to adhere to.

The US reportedly wants wording of the treaty changed so that exporters must only "consider" whether the arms might be used to commit human rights abuses, rather than ban sales if there was a "substantial risk" of abuses.

European arms exporting nations have repeated their call for human rights considerations to be written into the treaty in an article co-authored by Ewa Bjorling, Swedish minister for trade, as well as Laurent Fabius, Guido Westerwelle and William Hague, the French, German and British foreign ministers respectively.

"We believe that states have a right to acquire the means to protect their citizens," the article said. "However, we also believe that states have a responsibility to ensure that arms are not used in a way that is inconsistent with the humanitarian aims of the treaty, or violates international law.

"While many states already operate robust export control systems, the lack of common international standards allows inconsistencies that those who would do harm can exploit. The arms trade treaty should be legally binding, but nationally enforced. This will ensure the global consistency required to make the treaty effective, while maintaining state signatories' right to decide on arms transfers. We believe that an arms trade treaty should cover all types of conventional weapons, notably including small arms and light weapons, all types of munitions, and related technologies. It is also of great importance that the treaty includes strong provisions on human rights, international humanitarian law and sustainable development.

"We also want to see a treaty that seeks to prevent the diversion of arms from the legal market to illicit trafficking networks and curbs the impact of corruption in the arms trade. A strong and comprehensive framework of common international standards is an essential step in reaching this goal."

Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty International, told PublicServiceEurope.com that those pushing for human rights provisions would "have their work cut out for them".

"This month, no doubt we shall have heated debate and strong opinions expressed at the UN in New York as governments thrash out this historic agreement. But, if delivered effectively, this treaty could lead to not just the 'pause' button being pressed on serious human rights violations being committed - as a result of inappropriate arms transfers - it could actually prevent some of the worst human rights violations being committed, once and for all."