State Dept. to Resume Talks on U.N. Arms Trade Treaty July 2
The negotiations toward an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) resumes July 2-27 in New York, the State Department said. Work on the treaty, which is supported by the U.S., began in 2009, when 153 countries at the U.N. voted to support it.
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Conventional arms transfers are a crucial national security concern for the U.S., State said, and it supports "the highest standards of responsibility to control the international transfer of arms." It said the U.S. "is prepared to work for strong international standards in the international arms trade, provided that the Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty at the United Nations operates under the rule of consensus decision-making."
It said the ATT should include all advanced conventional weapons, including tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery systems, military aircraft, military helicopters, naval vessels, missiles, missile launchers, small arms and light weapons, and combat support equipment. It should also include parts, components, and/or technology to manufacture, modify, or repair the covered items. State said the ATT should be limited to international transfers. Imports, exports, transit, transshipment, or brokering of conventional arms, whether the transfers are state-to-state, state-to-private end-user, commercial sales, leases, or loans/gifts.
The U.S. also believes:
- No new agency should be set up to oversee arms transfers.
- Controls must be established on a national basis and governments must be able to control the import, export, transshipment, and brokering of the regulated items, in tangible or intangible form.
- Governments should be able to assess the appropriateness of the transfer in responding to or satisfying legitimate recipient security needs.
- Decisions should be based on the risk of adverse economic or political impacts within the recipient nation and the surrounding region, and the degree to which security needs can be addressed by other means.
- The ATT should require signatory states to monitor and enforce the controls.
- The Second Amendment to the Constitution must be upheld.
- There will be no restrictions on civilian possession or trade of firearms otherwise permitted by law or protected by the U.S. Constitution.
- There will be no dilution or diminishing of sovereign control over issues involving the private acquisition, ownership, or possession of firearms, which must remain matters of domestic law.
- The international arms trade is a legitimate commercial activity, and otherwise lawful commercial trade in arms must not be unduly hindered.
- There will be no requirement for reporting on or marking and tracing of ammunition or explosives.
- Existing nonproliferation and export control regimes must not be undermined.