Here Comes the Arms Trade Treaty

The U.N. General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security voted overwhelmingly yesterday to recommend the drafting of “a comprehensive, legally binding instrument establishing international standards in the trade on conventional arms.” This was long expected, and the vote was a resounding 139-1, with the United States as the only country voting against the resolution (but with 24 countries abstaining and another 32 countries not even showing up for the vote).

This vote is a triumph for NGOs like Control Arms which have been lobbying for the treaty nonstop. The reason for the opposition of the U.S. is not exactly clear since their views are not reported or explained by the UN press release. This Baltimore Sun Op-Ed might explain their views, but not in great detail. As I understand it, the U.S. believes that tighter controls on existing arms trades are more important than expanding controls onto a broader category of weapons. But who knows? I think the U.S. probably would have been smarter to abstain (like China, Russia, and other major arms exporters) rather than actually oppose the treaty. No doubt those countries will end up undermining any arms trade treaty at least as much as the U.S., but none will be vilified or attacked for opposing the treaty.

One point of particular interest. The Committee has instructed the Secretary General to “establish a group of governmental experts” to draft a report and proposed text for the treaty, which will be considered in the fall of 2008. Who will be on this group? You can be sure international law professors from around the world are preparing their resumes as we speak. Anyone have any nominations???