Arms Trade Treaty: The UN Launches Further Urgent Work
A quick note from the Airport lounge as I head back to Geneva. A little over 2 hours ago the UN 1st Committee took a decision to launch further urgent work on the ATT. A good result after 4 weeks intense negotiation by my team.
In a vote 148 countries voted to support the Resolution, put forward by the UK and the 7 Co-Authors (Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica Finland, Kenya and Japan), an overwhelming majority.
Only the US and Zimbabwe voted against while 18 countries abstained. Of the 18, many said they had difficulties with the procedure rather than the substance. Absolutely right too given the backdrop of the terrible events in the Congo. Any better example of why we need an ATT I can hardly imagine.
Posted at 20:44 31 October 2008 by John Duncan | Comments[0]
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