: Opinion: Arms treaty an example, not an answer #IndiaNEWS #News By  Owen Greene The effectiveness of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) has been under fire. Designed to regulate international

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Opinion: Arms treaty an example, not an answer #IndiaNEWS #News
By  Owen Greene
The effectiveness of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) has been under fire. Designed to regulate international trade in conventional arms, lack of support by some of the world’s great powers has reduced its reach.
But it is important to have realistic expectations. It is too much to expect that the ATT, or any other international treaty, can force major powers to resist actions that they judge to be against their strategic interests. Setting international principles and standards and enabling coalitions of willing governments, civil society groups and international organisations to cooperate on implementing control even without the cooperation of some ‘sceptical’ states remain an important aspect of the treaty, and one worth emphasising.
Arms Transfers
Arms transfers are badly regulated leading to destabilising or abusive arms flows and misuse. ATT membership commits member countries to ensure good standards in the criteria and procedures they use when deciding whether to authorise an arms import or export or transit or transportation of an arms shipment through their jurisdiction.
The ATT does prohibit arms transfers that would break UN Security Council embargoes or other relevant international obligations, or if the government “has knowledge at the time of authorisation� that the items would be used to commit genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.
Only some of the problems the ATT aims to address arise from deliberate strategic decisions by major powers to authorise arms shipments. Many of the dangerous and destabilising arms flows arise because of inadequacies in national regulations, control and enforcement systems, or lack of national capacity to monitor and assess risks. Often, the problems arise because corrupt or irresponsible state officials are able to exploit these weaknesses to authorise arms transfers for their own interests.
Where the ATT has had some success is in establishing good standards for national control systems and has mobilised substantial international programmes to assist countries to achieve them. The ATT can provide the necessary standards and assistance to help with national reforms – directly through official assistance programmes but also indirectly as a reference point for national campaigners.
These types of influencing mechanisms are unlikely to lead to improved arms transfer controls in authoritarian states if their elites resist. But they can be important in countries that are undergoing wider political reforms. This includes many countries in Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere.
Unauthorised Destinations
One of the biggest international challenges involving the ATT is to prevent and reduce the diversion of arms transfers to unauthorised destinations or end-users.

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