UN arms treaty draft favours exporters; ignores India’s concern

The draft of a UN treaty to regulate the sale of conventional arms is facing opposition from some countries as it favours the arms exporting nations and remains silent on the illicit trafficking of such weapons to non-state actors, of which India has been a major victim.

The Arms Trade Treaty draft, presented by the Conference President Peter Woolcott from Australia, if implemented in its present form is set to undermine India’s national security interests when it comes to addressing the issue of illicit arms supply to non-state actors like Maoists or terrorist outfits being armed from across the border.

Also being a heavy importer of arms, officials fear that the adoption of such a treaty could tend to jeopardise India’s security interests if exporters of arms or spare parts stop supplying them to India — on one pretext or the other — when it needs them most, like the one during the Kargil war.

Notably India had articulated its view at the start of the Arms Trade Treaty Conference at the UN headquarters here.

However, the major arms exporters — the US and Britain — have managed to have a draft put in place that is quite detrimental to India’s national interests, the officials said.

After month-long negotiations failed in July, the 193 UN members are again attempting to hammer out a deal on the issue which deals with $70 billion arms trade around the world. The draft is expected to come up for adoption tomorrow.

“The ATT should make a real impact on illicit trafficking in conventional arms and their illicit use especially by terrorists and other unauthorised and unlawful non-State actors,” said Sujata Mehta, India’s Permanent Representative to Conference on Disarmament, Geneva and Head of the Indian Delegation to the Arms Trade Treaty Conference.

“Without such provisions, the ATT would in fact lower the bar on obligations of all states not to support terrorists and/or terrorists acts enshrined in various UNSC resolutions and anti-terrorism Conventions. We cannot allow such a loophole in the ATT,” she said.

In her speech at the start of the 10-day conference on March 16, Mehta said the draft tends to tilt the balance further away from importing countries.

“The ATT should not be an instrument in the hands of exporting states to take unilateral force majeure measures against importing states parties without consequences,” she said.

“Such a loophole in the Treaty would have the affect of strengthening the hands of a few exporting states at the expense of the legitimate defence and national security interests of a large number of importing states parties. To correct the imbalance, rights of importing states should be elaborated and further strengthened,” she said.

“Any other outcome would not only be not acceptable to a large number of countries, but also underline the irony of a multilateral process involving all UN members if in the end it is sought to be used for the benefit of a few,” Mehta warned.

The view of India and several other developing nations like Indonesia, Brazil and Algeria were ignored, if the final draft posted on the UN website is of any indication.

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