On 18 October 2013, Cambodia signed the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at the United Nations in New York. Fred Lubang, from NonViolence International South East Asia, a Control Arms member said:

“In 2003, when the Control Arms campaign was launched, there were only three countries who initially supported the call for a global Arms Trade Treaty. One of them was Cambodia. Cambodia has been a consistent supporter of the humanitarian vision of the Arms Trade Treaty.”

In the Cambodian statement at the Final UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty in March, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the United Nations, H.E. Dr. Sea Kosal expressed the country’s strong support for an ATT that addresses the concerns of all aspects of the arms trade by establishing common international norms and standards that can serve as regulatory guidelines for the import, export and transfers of conventional arms.

Fred Lubang added:

“Cambodia is the fifth signatory of the ATT in the vast Asia region after Japan, Mongolia, Philippines and South Korea. This gesture is particularly important coming from a country that has tragically seen the devastating impact of unregulated arms trade in its society. It will highly encourage its neighbors to be in solidarity with countries who have experienced this type of problems. We hope that other countries will take the challenge and give life to an arms trade treaty that creates safer communities and regions.”

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