France, Britain, Germany and Sweden called Monday on the United Nations to quickly draw up a comprehensive arms trade treaty that will reduce what they called “a growing threat to humanity”.
The appeal came as UN member states were set to launch talks later Monday in New York on drafting the first comprehensive arms trade treaty, which activists say is all the more necessary given the mounting bloodshed in Syria. “There is a clear case for governments to act now,” said Sweden’s trade minister in a joint statement with the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain. “Every year, millions of people around the world suffer from the direct and indirect effects of the poorly regulated arms trade and the illicit trafficking of arms,” they wrote in the statement published in European newspapers.
They said that hundreds of thousands of people were killed or injured, many were raped or forced to abandon their homes, while others lived their lives under a constant threat of violence.
“Coupled with a growth in the illicit trafficking of arms, we are facing a growing threat to humanity,” they said, noting that as some of the largest exporters in Europe, their countries bore “a special responsibility in this matter”. The ministers wrote that 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,” they said.