Canada voted with the majority on a treaty that was heavily promoted by the Vatican and religious non-governmental organizations.
“The Holy See was quite prominent during ATT discussions and negotiations,” said Ken Epps of the Canadian ecumenical peace and disarmament think tank Project Ploughshares.
“It was always reminding states that the treaty, at its core, is about humanitarian concerns and issues.”
Epps co-chaired the international civil society coalition Control Arms as it worked on the treaty for the last two years of the seven-year negotiation process.
“I am absolutely convinced that this treaty would not have occurred if it were not for civil society,” said Epps. “At every point along the way it was civil society that was pushing for the treaty, moving it forward. When there were weakenings of positions around a number of key states, civil society helped to bolster them.”
Among the civil society organizations pushing hard on the treaty was the international Catholic peace movement Pax Christi. Pax Christi’s lead negotiator on the deal, Fr. Paul Lansu, is fond of telling people, “There are more laws regulating international trade in bananas than conventional weapons.”
The happy coincidence of the treaty and the 50th anniversary of Pacem in Terris makes it that much sweeter, according to Lansu. Pacem in Terris was the first papal encyclical ever addressed to “All people of good will,” rather than just bishops or monarchs.
The treaty is exactly the kind of achievement Pope John XXIII hoped for from the United Nations, said Lansu.
“This treaty is not perfect. It still can and needs to be improved. But the first thing to do is to get it adopted by the different parliaments and then get it implemented,” Lansu wrote in an e-mail to The Catholic Register.
Nearly 2,000 people die daily as a result of armed violence, mainly in the poorer countries of Africa and Latin America. It’s those countries of the global south that have pushed hardest for the treaty, with churches and NGOs as allies.
“We’ve got virtually all of Africa, most of Latin America and all of Europe very supportive of this treaty,” said Epps. “That’s where the major impact of irresponsible weapons’ trading is occurring.”
Once it comes into force, the treaty will complete a trifecta of humanitarian treaties that have had significant input from NGOs — the 1997 Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel land mines, the 2008 Oslo Convention on Cluster Munitions and now the Arms Trade Treaty.
The treaty covers a broad range of weapons from light arms up to warships and attack helicopters. It covers only the international sale and purchase of weapons, not gun ownership within countries. Among the abstentions on the treaty was Russia, which is one of the most active countries in the international arms market.
“Russia could potentially become problematic,” said Epps. “The big players do matter in this case.”
Despite opposition from the U.S. National Rifle Association, the United States, the world’s largest arms supplier, voted in favour. The regulations in the treaty largely reflect U.S. standards for verifying that weapons do not go to terrorist or criminal organizations.
Canada should be one of the first to sign and ratify the the treaty as this country already has high standards regulating its arms exports, said Epps.
“There’s nothing to prevent the Canadian government from instantly living up to the provisions of the treaty,” he said.
The Jewish human rights monitoring group B’nai Brith Canada has urged the government to ratify the treaty as soon as possible.
“We are applauding the UN General Assembly today and hope that this important treaty will be followed up with concrete measures to prevent terrorist organizations from acquiring weaponry to be used against innocent civilians,” said B’nai Brith CEO Frank Dimant in a press release.
Nations can begin signing the treaty on June 3. Once 50 states have ratified it, the treaty comes into force.