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Arms control and non-proliferation agreements are an important part of Europe's post-Cold War security order, now looking increasingly fragile due to the Ukraine crisis. Numerous concerns have been raised about Russia's commitments on weapons of mass destruction and conventional arms.

Considered by many a historic achievement, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) establishing common standards for import, export and transfer of conventional arms, will, once in force, close a major loophole in international law. Unlike weapons of mass destruction or land mines, the rising trade in conventional arms had not previously been covered by any binding international rules.

The fruit of years of negotiations and intensive civil society campaigning, the recent agreement of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) has been widely presented as a major achievement. Exceptionally it was adopted by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The wide scope of the treaty, which includes small arms and light weapons (SALW) and, to some extent ammunition, alongside the main conventional arms has satisfied most stakeholders. The major hindrance for the impact of the ATT relates ...

The first international treaty regulating sales of conventional arms is to be finalised in July 2012. Even if the ATT raises big expectations, the consensual procedure chosen for its adoption, coupled with contentious issues dividing participants, means that a 'lowest common denominator' treaty with limited scope and weak implementation ay be the result.

Arms trade treaty

Briefing 05-09-2011

Unlike weapons of mass destruction and land mines, international trade in conventional weapons is not covered by a legally binding global treaty. Currently, the relevant international regulations are made up of a patchwork of UN embargos, transparency mechanisms and a voluntary code of conduct. Since 2010, a UN preparatory committee on Arms Trade Treaty has been mandated to prepare the basis for a final conference to agree the treaty in 2012.

On the 16th of March 2009 the Policy Department in DG-EXPO organised a workshop on behalf of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE). The theme of the workshop centred upon the complex of issues resulting from the large amount of war remnants that were dumped in the Baltic Sea following the two World Wars of the twentieth century. The technological, environmental, and financial aspects of the debate were covered as well as the contemporary political controversies related to gas supply lines ...

Executive summary Potential environmental and human health effects resulting from the dumping of World War I and World War II-era conventional and chemical weapons in the Baltic Sea are of continuing concern. It is not possible to identify, and safely recover or otherwise ‘remediate’ all of the munitions that have been dumped. Some munitions will continue to be uncovered inadvertently. Therefore, procedures for the identification and reporting of recovered munitions should be maintained and, where ...

The authors conclude that the use of DU ammunition in Iraq and the Balkans neither has led to a serious widespread contamination of the environment nor represents an acute or appreciable long-term hazard for man's health.