By: Jennifer Fierberg
On day four of the Arms Trade Treaty Negotiations at the UN in New York City a draft of the Arms Trade Treaty was presented to all 148 nations present. But to each and every delegation there were complex words such as “of” and “in” that had to be changed and could only be announced through a speech. Whle the legal scrubbing of this document took hours a prominant theme emerged…the US and Canada do not want to include any form of ammunition in this treaty. Yes, ammunition. Both countries are willing to regualte arms but not ammunition. Each country that stood up to voice concerns about the legal jargon in the draft of the bill all also stated they wanted ammunition included. Each and every country.
Many catch phrases began to surface on twitter and in pamphlets around the UN that read “there is a treaty to regulate arm chairs but not arms” or “even bananas are regulated by a treaty but not arms.” So why is it so hard to regulate illegal arms trade that is proven to kill thousands and thousands of lives per year yet we control bananas? Well, the short answer is that war is big business! Ammunition bring in millions of dollars every year to these super power coutries so why would they want to stop the use of their cash cow?
Yet, the unregulated supply of ammunition creates a loop hole for rebel groups around the world to access these supplies without restriction. Rebel groups in Somalia and DRC as eveidence of the killings that go on unrestricted and with impunity.
A comprehenisve Arms Trade Treaty will stop the gap of unrestricted access to ammuntion where arms ebargos have not.
Yet, with both the US and Canada fighting this move it seems unlikely that such a measure will see the light of day in this bill.
Powerful gun lobbiests presented their concerns at the end of day four but most activist and journalist in the room found this group quite entertaining and laughable. First of all, a comprehensive Arms Trade Treaty has absolutely no effect whatsoever on any US or Canadian citizen to own or operate a weapon. Those rigths are protected under the US Constition and no international Arms Trade Treaty can ever effect the US Constition. One woman even promoted a “fear tactic” method in order to get her point accross to the dignitares stating all women need to own guns because they will be attacked and raped. It was a head slapping moment for the majority of the room.
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