General - News

The UN General Assembly has adopted a historic treaty to control the trade in conventional arms, voting it through by a huge majority.

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to approve the first-ever treaty to regulate the enormous global trade in conventional weapons, for the first time linking sales to the human-rights records of the buyers.

The Security Council's five permanent members (P5) – United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France – along with Germany, are the world's six leading arms exporters, often shipping weapons used to perpetuate violence across the globe.

Today is International Peace Day. Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 as an annual day of non-violence and voluntary global cease-fire, the annual celebration of peace encourages armed groups in conflict zones voluntarily to cease all hostilities on September 21 each year. I have seen no assessment as to whether armed groups in Colombia and elsewhere are aware of this global campaign or comply with its call, but the day has sometimes provided an opportunity for the United Nations or other humanitarian agencies to carry out actions such as the shipment of medical supplies and food into war zones, and it is an opportunity to carry out public peace education. On this day each year, citizens in Colombia and around the globe engage in activities designed to raise awareness about issues relating to peace and violence, and to make their homes, schools, communities, and countries places that nurture a culture of peace.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 19 (Reuters) - China, Russia, Pakistan and Azerbaijan abstained from a U.N. Security Council vote on children and armed conflict on Wednesday over concerns that the U.N. envoy on the issue can investigate any conflict, not just those before the council. The remaining 11 members of the Security Council voted in favor of the resolution, which laid out the mandate for Leila Zerrougui, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special representative for children and armed conflict.

In the past two decades, experts monitoring the international arms trade recorded more than 500 violations of United Nations arms embargoes. Just two have resulted in trials and convictions.

Member states will have to work through a host of issues related to the international transfer of everything from fighter jets to Ak-47s.

Women members of civil society groups clad in black shirts and holding bananas staged a protest-rally in front of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Monday calling for a strong Philippine government support for the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).

Ahead of July, when final negotiations will be held at the UN on the ATT initiative, several civil society groups and state parties have called for the inclusion of gender in an ATT: to refer explicitly to gender-based violence in the Treaty text; and to ensure women's participation in the field of arms control more broadly.

Rosoboronexport is widely reported to be Syria's main weapons supplier, but all other suppliers of arms to Syria should be subject to the same scrutiny, Human Rights Watch said.