Millions of people suffer every day from the direct and indirect consequences of the irresponsible and poorly regulated arms trade. While there are treaties on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, there is no international treaty on the global arms trade – it’s as simple as that.
As a result, thousands are killed, far more people are injured, many are forced to flee from their homes, and others have to live under constant threat of weapons falling into the wrong hands. After all, what are terrorists, dictators, and drug kingpins without their weapons?
Somehow, the world has never properly regulated the conventional arms trade, arguably the most dangerous trade there is! We have complex and strict rules on all sorts of products from bananas to iPods, but no global rules for trading tanks, machine guns and bullets.
Last July, every country in the world sat down to finally negotiate a treaty, but they failed to reach consensus on the final document. July was certainly a step in the right direction, but the failure of countries to agree on an ATT means that thousands continue to die daily. Nations are gathering at the United Nations from October to November to make decisions about what the next steps for the process will be and how they can finish the job.
