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Women’s
International League for Peace and Freedom Reaction to the adoption of
the first ever Arms Trade Treaty
Treaty makes it
illegal to sell weapons if there is risk of gender-based violence
2 April 2013
New York
Today, governments
adopted the text of the first ever
Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at the United Nations in New York. The
treaty, which prohibits the sale of arms if there is a risk that the
weapons could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international
humanitarian or human rights law, is the first ever treaty that
recognizes the link between gender-based violence and the international
arms trade.
The Arms Trade Treaty text was adopted in the General Assembly with a
vote of 154 in favor, 3 against, and
23 abstentions. The final UN negotiating conference failed to
adopt the text by consensus on 28 March due to objections from Iran, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Syria. In response, over 100 countries co-sponsored a
draft General Assembly resolution calling for the adoption of the treaty
text, which was successfully adopted on 2 April.
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) welcomes
the adoption of the treaty as a first step towards regulating
international transfers of arms. However, the organization cautions that
the treaty not sufficiently robust or comprehensive. The risk of
legitimizing the international arms trade, especially irresponsible
transfers, must be avoided through careful interpretation and
implementation.
Treaty has binding
provisions to prevent armed gender-based violence
WILPF ran a campaign during the ATT process to make prevention of
gender-based violence legally binding in the treaty.
Throughout the process, WILPF has pushed for recognition of the link
between weapons and gender-based violence. With this final text, WILPF’s
calls have been respected. The strengthening of the preventing GBV
criterion was supported by over 101 delegations, a historic number of
states. This happened because of the strong mobilization and campaigning
done by civil society, and our work around "Make it binding" really
gave concrete results. WILPF is already is planning on how to hold
governments accountable to the commitments in the future. So Join us. Support us. Work with us. Together, we have made a
difference today and we should continue our work to make sure that arms
sales are stopped when there's a risk of gender-based violence.
“Weapons increase the
risk of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, and impede
women’s political participation around the world. The Treaty’s explicit
provision on gender-based violence not only recognizes the links between
such violence and the arms trade, but makes it illegal to transfer
weapons if there is a risk, for example, that the weapons will be used to
facilitate rape,” said Ray Acheson, the head of WILPF’s Arms
Trade Treaty work.
Treaty still has
limitations and loopholes
While the adopted ATT text is stronger than previous drafts, it still
contains substantial limitations and loopholes. As the treaty was
negotiated between all countries in the world under the rule of
consensus, the treaty’s scope is narrow, providing only for consideration
of a limited number of weapon systems. Its provisions covering
ammunition, munitions, parts, and components are not comprehensive and it
does not legally mandate states to increase transparency in the
international arms trade. The treaty does not address concerns that major
exporters themselves sometimes use arms to engage in violations of human
rights or crimes of aggression.
However, the ATT text is only a starting point. Madeleine Rees,
Secretary-General of WILPF says: “The
ATT process has shown a significant international mobilization against
the negative humanitarian and human rights impacts of the international
arms trade. Now, we must implement it with the strongest possible
interpretation in order to do what the treaty first set out to do, reduce
human suffering.”
ENDS
Facts about the
treaty:
The UN process for an Arms Trade Treaty began in 2006. The final ATT text
requires exporting states to assess the risk that the weapons being
transferred could be used or diverted for the use of committing
violations of human rights or international humanitarian law, including
acts of gender-based violence or violence against children, or for
contributing to terrorism or transnational organized crime such as human
trafficking. The ATT also requires states not to authorize any transfers
of arms that risk undermining peace and security. The treaty will open
for signature on 3 June 2013.
Facts about WILPF:
WILPF was founded in 1915 in The Hague, Netherlands, by women from around the world protesting the
violence and destruction of World War I. Today it has National Sections
in nearly 40 countries. Its work on disarmament, arms control, and the
arms trade is led by its programme Reaching Critical Will (www.reachingcriticalwill.org). WILPF
national sections and programmes have been engaged in the work on Arms
Trade Treaty for several years at all levels.
Background
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