Arms trade treaty negotiations begin, Syria casts shadow

[maddezmom]

Source: Rueters

Reuters

12:08 a.m. CDT, July 2, 2012

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Delegates from around the world gather in New York on Monday for the start of month-long U.N.-hosted negotiations to hammer out the first-ever binding treaty to regulate the global weapons market, valued at more than $60 billion a year.

Arms control campaigners say one person every minute dies as a result of armed violence around the world and that a convention is needed to prevent illicitly traded guns from pouring into conflict zones and fueling wars and atrocities.


If they get their way, all signatories would be charged with enforcing compliance to any treaty by companies that produce arms and with taking steps to prevent rogue dealers from operating within their borders.

¬snip¬

There is no guarantee the July 2-27 negotiations will produce a treaty, let alone a good one. In February, preparatory talks on the ground rules for this month's talks nearly collapsed due to procedural wrangling and other disagreements.

In the end, the United States and other countries succeeded in ensuring the treaty must be approved unanimously, so any one country can effectively veto a deal.


Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-arms-treatybre861077-20120701,0,2453512.story

[dipsydoodle]

1. see also ; UK presses US on human rights clause in arms trade treaty

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014157253

[heaven05]

2. cynic

closing the barn door after the horses are out. too late for something like this. plus money rules, never let something like this be enforced effectively.