May 11, 2011.
Tagged: Arms Trade Treaty
Common international standards in the ATT should require States to establish and maintain effective national regulatory mechanisms. The ATT should also require States to licence or otherwise authorise exports and other international transfers of conventional weaponry, munitions and related equipment (“conventional arms”) in conformity with an agreed list of clear criteria that take into account the potential risks stemming from such transfers. An ATT establishing such standards and rigorous procedures will help generate consistency in national arms control regulations.
Importing States should be required to authorise imports of conventional arms into their jurisdiction. Such authorisations must be in conformity with each State’s primary responsibility to provide for the security of all persons under its jurisdiction and to promote respect for and observance of human rights as affirmed in the UN Charter and in other relevant international law.
This report is divided into two parts, and includes three case studies drawn from recent examples of armed violence in Bangladesh, Guatemala and the Philippines. Part I examines how an ATT with a clearly elaborated risk assessment process can make a contribution to the prevention and reduction of armed violence and examines the role an ATT can play in preventing and reducing those forms of armed violence in which conventional arms are used and which result in serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Part II focuses on one form of armed violence: firearms-related homicide. Discussions of armed violence have repeatedly noted that the use of firearms in non-conflict settings is the most prevalent form of armed violence and the form that results in the most deaths and injuries.