UNITED NATIONS — Eighteen countries, including five of the world’s leading arms exporters, ratified a landmark treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar global arms trade on Wednesday, giving a significant boost to the campaign for the treaty’s entry into force.
The ambassadors of the 18 countries handed over the documents at a UN ceremony on the first anniversary of General Assembly’s adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty, which is aimed at stemming the global illegal weapons trade, estimated at between $60 billion and $85 billion. The new ratifications bring the total number to 31, more than half of the 50 needed for the pact to enter into force.
Once it does enter into force, the treaty will not control the domestic use of weapons in any country. It will prohibit the transfer of conventional weapons if they violate arms embargoes or if they promote acts of genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes.
Five of the world’s top 10 arms exporters — Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain — turned in their ratification documents at the ceremony. The other 13 were Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
Among the holdouts is the United States, the world’s largest weapons exporter. The Obama administration has signed the treaty but there is strong resistance in the US Senate, which must ratify it.
UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson urged all 193 UN member states to sign and ratify it without delay.
To date, 118 countries have signed the treaty. But ratification is required to establish national regulations to control the transfer of conventional arms and components, and to regulate arms brokers.