India
wants a global Arms Trade
Treaty (ATT) to be decided
by consensus with all "stakeholders",
where the big players in weapons
trade like the US and China
sharing obligations to prevent
illicit trafficking of arms
to terrorist groups, as reported
on July 20, by The Times
of India.
This
unregulated global trade in
weapons is not only huge,
some figures suggest USD 2.2
billion worth of weapons made
their way to countries under
arms embargo in the last decade,
but, also contributes enormously
to enhancing the lethal power
of terrorist groups and organized
crime syndicates.
As
discussions for a treaty at
the UN enter its final week
— the treaty is being discussed
at a special session from
July 2-27, sources said India
wants arms brokers to be included
in the purview of the ATT,
but want to keep ammunition
out of the pact. The Indian
stand on the issue is closer
to the US, although, like
China, New Delhi too wants
to keep subjective aspects
like human rights outside
the treaty' ambit.
On
the scope of the treaty, India
has proposed a seven-plus-one
list of weapons, including,
battle tanks, armed combat
vehicles, large calibre artillery
systems, combat aircraft,
attack helicopters, warships,
missiles and missile launchers
and small arms and light weaponry.
Of these, it would be easier
to get a consensus on most
since all of them don't make
to organized crime networks.
The difficulty will be including
the last item in the treaty.
India
is clear that it wants arms
brokering to be covered by
the treaty because it is closely
related to transfer of illicit
weapons. As one of the largest
weapons importers in the world,
India says it is willing to
accept obligations to regulate
weapons imports, but there
should be a balance of obligations
among exporters. India, though,
is clearly being ambitious
because it fancies itself
becoming an exporter in future. |
