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Arms Trade Treaty

Many organisations have been pressing for an international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), particularly the Control Arms coalition which was launched three years ago by Oxfam, Amnesty International and the International Action Network on Small Arms. In March 2005, then UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, gave his backing to the ATT and it is also supported by the Defence Manufacturers Association, the representative body of the UK arms industry. As yet, there is no actual Treaty text.

The questions to ask the Government about the ATT

CAAT supports the idea of an ATT in principle, and has signed up to Control Arms. However, for an ATT to be effective, the following questions need to be able to be answered positively.

  • * The "tanks of repressive regimes, account for an enormous amount of avoidable human misery across the world".  Would an ATT have banned the export from the UK of spares for tanks Indonesia used in Aceh in 2002 and 2003?  Would it prevent the vast flow of UK military equipment to the tyranny of Saudi Arabia?
  • * The "Democratic Republic of Congo - a country where six years of conflict have caused millions of deaths".  Would an ATT have prevented the sale of spares for Hawk jets to Zimbabwe, used in a war which "caused millions of deaths"?
  • * The "developing countries who spend already over-stretched budgets on armaments for which they have no clear need are bound to have too little left for health, education and vital infrastructure".  Would an ATT result in the cessation of UK arms sales to countries like Pakistan, impoverished, yet committing a quarter of government spending to arms? Would arms sales to Nigeria, rated by the UN as one of the twenty least developed countries on earth, stop?

All the quotes are from Jack Straw's speech on 15th March 2005.

At the moment it does not seem as though the ATT, as envisaged by the UK government and supported by the arms industry, would stop the kind of sales outlined above. This would be very dangerous as the Government could give the impression it was taking action, whilst allowing the arms companies to continue their deadly business as usual.

Further information

Control arms?, by Mike Lewis, CAATnews, June - July 2006

A hollow gesture?, by Nicholas Gilby, CAATnews, Dec 2005-Jan 2006

Control Arms and the Global Principles for Arms Transfers being proposed by it

Campaign Against Arms Trade, 11 Goodwin St, Finsbury Park, London N4 3HQ
Tel: +44-(0)20 7281 0297 | Fax: +44-(0)20 7281 4369