Ross
ROBERTSON
Associate Spokesperson for Disarmament

3 April 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT

Arms Trade Treaty Moves Closer To Realisation

Labour’s Associate Spokesperson for Disarmament and Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) President, Ross Robertson, has welcomed the adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at the UN General Assembly in New York earlier today.

The Treaty aims to toughen up standards around the control, trade and export of conventional weapons to countries and regions in conflict or vulnerable to conflict where such weapons may be misused.

“While the ATT agreement does not contain everything that we had hoped for, treaty making is ultimately a process of compromise. With commitment and dedication from all the ATT will save many, many lives.

“I applaud all UN Member States that have contributed to the establishment of the Treaty, as well as so many of our PGA members who have worked tirelessly in advocating for this Treaty over the past three years.

“The next stage of the campaign will be mobilization of PGA MPs worldwide (as well as many other MPs with whom our members work) to advocate for signature and ratification of the ATT by their respective countries, to ensure that it enters into force within the shortest time frame possible. Thereafter, PGA will work with its members around the world to draft the legislation necessary to implement the ATT in their respective countries.

“It is expected the treaty - which United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said ‘will have a real impact on the lives of those millions of people suffering from the consequences of armed conflict, repression and armed violence’ - will come into force once the required number of ratifications have been achieved.”

The Control Arms Global Parliamentary Declaration on the Arms Trade Treaty may be viewed at:
http://controlarms.org/parliamentarian-declaration
The 2,100 Members of Parliament in 114 countries around the world that have signed the ATT may be viewed at: http://speakout.controlarms.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Parliamentary_Signatures-_August_14.pdf

More information on PGA may be found at: www.pgaction.org

labour.org.nz

ENDS

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