EDITORIAL

  • The Arms Trade Treaty, a new instrument for arms control

    Rafael Grasa

    For the second time, this e-review will focus on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), adopted by the United Nations in April 2013. This is an indication of how important the ATT may be. Its importance is, above all, symbolic. However, it may also serve to regulate the behaviour of states and — indirectly — private actors, depending on the actual results once the treaty enters into force. We wished to look at the different, sometimes conflicting, reactions it has provoked among activists, experts and academics, as well as among states and businesses. These reactions range from complete satisfaction to total and instant pessimism, as well as a whole range of intermediate opinions. The truth is that the ATT has generated expectations and controversy from the beginning, from the long and complicated period of gestation of the UN mandate for the negotiations, through to the negotiations themselves on the basis of the mandate finally adopted, with the disappointment of July 2012. Read more

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