February 8, 2013 at 4:00 pm
Supporters of the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) are turning up the heat ahead of another push next month to finalize the treaty. Oxfam America is second to none in its advocacy of this bad treaty, and on Wednesday released a paper accusing opponents of the treaty of mounting a “campaign of lies and deliberate distortions” in order to stop a treaty that stands for “truth and justice” and “will prevent the irresponsible sale, gift, or lease of weapons and ammunition across borders.” The Heritage Foundation was itself singled out, and so we’d like to respond.
First, of course, we’d like to thank Oxfam for recognizing the impact our work has had. As the author of the paper cited, I am doubly obliged. But we strongly disagree with Oxfam’s charge and think the organization itself is engaging in serious mischaracterizations of what this proposed treaty would do and not do...........This is where Oxfam goes after my own work—specifically, a Heritage paper published last summer, which argues that “the ATT will effectively bind only the democracies that accept it.” Oxfam regards this as just more “distortions.” It claims that:
Like any other treaty, the ATT will bind all countries that adopt it and will send a strong message to those that don’t. Countries that violate the treaty law will face international pressure and condemnation. Elevating the rest of the world to something close to US standards is key to defining appropriate behavior to which bad actors can be held accountable. While the USalready has strict controls on arms transfers, there is no international law making arms trafficking to human rights abusers or war criminals illegal. The ATT will for the first time hold countries that facilitate abusive actions through arms sales accountable.
How, exactly, will the ATT hold nations accountable? Are they accountable just because they signed a piece of paper? It is widely acknowledged by treaty supporters that U.N. Security Council arms embargoes are regularly violated. Why will the ATT be any different? To Read More….
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