THE PAST

The idea behind the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was to establish a treaty setting out global standards for the international trade in conventional arms, and in doing so provide a new multilateral framework for transparency and accountability in that trade: one that would also be a powerful new tool in efforts to prevent gross human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law. We are now on that path.

The adoption of the ATT by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on 2 April 2013 and its entry into force on 24 December 2014 is a tribute to the work of civil society and an enormous amount of methodical and well-crafted diplomacy by many States and individuals, in particular Ambassador Roberto Moritán.

The roots of the ATT can be traced to the late 1990s and the beginnings of a civil society campaign supported by a group of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates led by Dr. Oscar Arias, the former President of Costa Rica (this group included Elie Wiesel, Betty Williams, José Ramos-Horta, representatives of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Amnesty International and the American Friends Service Committee). In 2006, seven governments sponsored the first UN General Assembly resolution on the Arms Trade Treaty. The resolution recognized that the absence of common international standards on the import, export and transfer of conventional arms was a contributory factor to conflict, the displacement of people, crime and terrorism, as well as to the undermining of peace, reconciliation, safety, security, stability and sustainable development. These seven governments, known as the ‘co-authors’ – Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Kenya and United Kingdom – led this resolution every year through to 2013.

The road from 2006 to 2013 was not straightforward. States approached the negotiations from a wide range of perspectives. Exporting States saw the treaty as a framework to allow their defence industries to participate more transparently in the legitimate international arms trade. They also recognized the value of industries operating internationally under an agreed set of standards.