The UN Arms Trade Treaty officially enters into force.

After years of negotiations and with the number of member states ratifying exceeding 50, the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (UNATT) officially entered into force on December 24.

According to VNA correspondent at the UN, on this occasion, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent a message to all 193 member countries, welcoming the official entry into force of UNATT, and calling on countries that have not signed or ratified to soon decide to join the treaty. In the message, Mr. Ban Ki-moon affirmed that UNATT has opened a new page in the history of arms control worldwide, ensuring transparency and responsibility in the field of arms trade. He hopes that from now on, all countries participating in UNATT will have legal responsibility in all arms trade transactions, and that cross-border arms transfers will be monitored and supervised with the most optimal measures and means.

International military exhibition in Kielce on September 4. Illustration photo: VNA

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that nearly two years ago, the UN General Assembly adopted the UNATT, demonstrating the determination of member states, international organizations and civil society to prevent the irresponsible exchange and trade of weapons as has been the case for a long time, in order to work towards the noble goal of reducing human suffering and death. He hoped that the UNATT would help effectively prevent the flow of weapons into places of conflict and violence, and prevent weapons from falling into the hands of dictatorial military regimes that trample on human rights, as well as terrorist groups and criminal organizations.

Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein (Kill Raad Al Hussen) considered the entry into force of the UNATT as an event that opens a new era in protecting human rights, helping countries have a solid basis to control the purchase and sale of conventional weapons, as well as their use, to prevent these weapons from being used against humans.

There are currently a total of 130 countries that have signed the UNATT, of which 60 have ratified. However, there are still many powers that have not ratified this treaty. The United States is the world's largest arms producer but has only signed but not ratified. Some other countries with developed arms industries such as Russia, China and India also abstained from voting at the meeting to approve the above document. Meanwhile, 3 countries that oppose the UNATT are Iran, North Korea and Syria.

UNATT was adopted at the UN General Assembly on April 2, 2013, marking the first time the world has a treaty that sets global principles for the transfer and use of weapons to ensure transparency and protection of human rights in the conventional arms trade. UNATT requires countries to establish state-level control mechanisms for arms exports. Accordingly, countries that ratify the treaty must be responsible for ensuring that arms contracts do not violate international embargoes, human rights laws or risk weapons falling into the hands of terrorist groups or criminals. UNATT is applied to tanks, armored vehicles, heavy artillery, fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles, missile launch systems and other types of nuclear weapons.

The establishment of UNATT also aims to limit illegal arms trade in the world, with an estimated turnover of 60 - 85 billion USD. According to statistics, every year the world has more than 520,000 people killed by armed violence and millions of people fall into tragedy because weapons fall into the hands of extremists and terrorists...

According to VNA