Should the Arms Trade Treaty Cover Small Arms - Assignment Example

Should the Arms Trade Treaty cover small arms? Pro`s – Yes, the Arms Trade Treaty must cover small arms because In almost all continents, small arms tend to enhance the crime rate and threaten the civilians of the area 2. Due to their size, small arms are convenient to conceal making their accumulation difficult to be noticed 3. The rate of post-conflict homicides inflicted via small arms is higher than the death toll in the battlefield 4. Armed violence contributes in the alleviation of poverty and impediment of economic growth 5. Small Arms Trade Treaty would add towards data building on the accumulation of small arms which is otherwise missing Con`s – No, the Arms Trade Treaty shouldn’t cover small arms because 1. The idea of small arms control isn`t practical 2. The treaty can easily be amended by a majority-rule 3. The Small Arms Control treaty violates the sovereignty principal of the state 4. The Small Arms Control treaty violates the second amendment of the US constitution 5. The treaty is a little ambiguous in its scope and nature, thus may be misinterpreted It was on April 2, 2013 that the General Assembly of the UN incorporated the Arms Trade Treaty which also incorporated the small arms control to foster peace and securityi. The first reason why it must be included in the Arms Trade Treaty is that the most viable reason behind crimes and illegitimate activities globally can be tied to small arms and ammunition. The mobs terrorize a neighborhood by virtue of small arms and so do rebels attacking peacekeepers. Similarly, drug lords target the law enforcers and illegal drug trafficking and trading takes place via small arms. Thus, clearly, by direct control and monitoring of the small arms, the crime rate can also be controlled effectively. Secondly, as opposed to nuclear weapons or other large ammunition equipment, small arms are convenient to conceal. Also, these are smaller in size and lighter to carry which makes them easier to transport. Thus, terrorist groups can accumulate these light weapons which they can later utilize to carry a lethal operation during the aggravation of a conflictii. This is a classic case exhibit during civil wars. Furthermore, majority of the conflicts in civil wars effecting the civilian population involve small arms, being the more dominant ammunition used for criminal violence. The death toll of fire-arms in the post-conflict period is thus higher than that of the death toll during the climax of the conflictiii. This directly implies that the losses in a conflict can clearly be minimized by controlling small arms. Also, the armed violence leads towards the decay in social welfare. People flee their homes and tend to be threatened by the presence of small arms. Also, according to statement issues by the World Bank, nothing affects the investment opportunities in a state as do armed violenceiv. Thus, all negative indicators to economic development can directly be connected to small arms. Thus, with active exports and imports of small arms, there are chances that more and more number of people would have easier access to small arms which would tend to increase violence and decrease economic growth indicators. Lastly, there are presently no measures of transparency related to the available data on the presence of small arms on the global pretext. Thus, by virtue of small arms control and consistent monitoring of the data, eventually the data would be accumulated to a considerable extent, after which a database can be formed for future referencev. As opposed to small arms, the data on nuclear warheads and other conventional arms is quite accurate and similar efforts need to be done for small arms as well. On the other hand, it is also presumed that the idea of small arms isn`t as practical to implement. In contrast to the conventional arms and especially the nuclear weapons, the small arms aren’t detected as easily and also aren’t always readily sensed under the radarsvi. Thus, if the terrorist factions or other criminal groups attempt to hide their weapons, that might be quite convenient for them and otherwise inconvenient for the authorities to detect. In this context the small arms trade treaty may not be a rational idea. Thus, it may lead towards further increase in the export of illegal trade of small arms and ammunition, paving way for huge prospects of black market. Moreover, even if the treaty is implemented there is a chance that the efforts may be revised by a majority rule. This implies that by a vote from three quarters majority, the treaty can be reversed. Also, the amendment will only be implemented on the nations accepting the treaty and not on those who don`t ratify the treatyvii. In such a case, the entire point of implementing such a treaty is rendered unnecessary. Such a treaty would only be viable if a paradigm is found where there is uniformity in institutions implementing the preambles globally and the treaty can`t be easily revised if the situation isn`t favorable to the stronger bloc. More so, certain obligations and preambles of the small arms control treaty can be translated as a violation on the state sovereignty. For instance, the treaty implies that a state may have to undermine the rules of the state to follow the obligations implied by the international law, and this dilemma creates an issue of state sovereignty. Also, since the international bodies will be required to monitor the arms and ammunition, even in a state of civil war or conflict, thus states may use the treaty to spy on other states, thus rendering the small arms control initiatives as undesirable. In the context to the US as one of the superpowers, the small arms treaty would be directly a violation of the second amendment. The Americans deem their constitution as the most supreme and the state tend to dictate laws foreseen by the constitution. In this scenario, the second amendment gives the right to the US citizens to own small arms and ammunition to preserve protection of lives and propertiesviii. Thus, the arms control initiative would be null and void in the US, and since the superpower leads the footprints for other nations as well, in such a case the small arms trade treaty also becomes null and voidix. Also, it has also been pointed out at several points that various preambles of the treaty where the control of small arms has been incorporated constitutes certain ambiguities which leaves room for flawed interpretation. For instance, the treaty requires strict regulation of arms export and in case of any violations of international or humanitarian law there would be consequencesx. In such a case, the paradigms are not clearly defined, and thus, states could use the treaty to pressurize other states for economic purposes. Similarly, weaker states can be pressurized into manipulation by the bloc of developed states where the weaker states would suffer. Also, in case a few states get an advantage over other by seeking more weapons and small arms, which would disturb the balance of power amongst states thus creating a situation of anarchy. Thus, there are both pro`s and con`s to the treaty, however, both can be addressed by dialogue and further research on the area to include further blocs and advocate for the initiatives which seem best for the preservation of world peace and security. This implies that the UN network and the state institutions must collaborate to come up with a clearly defined and a fair paradigm to incorporate small arms into the arms trade treaty, since controlling small weapons and ammunition is certainly the key to peace and balance in the world. Bibliography: Da Silva, Clare. 2011. How an arms trade treaty can help prevent armed violence. London: Amnesty International. http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/act300302011en.pdf. Dahinden, Erwin, Julie Dahlitz, and Nadia Fischer. 2002. Small arms and light weapons: legal aspects of national and international regulations : a contribution to the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects and Its follow-up process. Geneva: UN. Fisanick, Christina. 2010. Gun control. Detroit, MI: Greenhaven Press. Garcia, Denise. 2011. Disarmament diplomacy and human security: regimes, norms, and moral progress in international relations. London: Routledge. Holtom, Paul, and Mark Bromley. 2011. Implementing an arms trade treaty lessons on reporting and monitoring from existing mechanisms. Solna: SIPRI, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Kelly, Robert J., Jess Maghan, and Joseph Serio. 2005. Illicit trafficking: a reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. Merino, Noël. 2009. The arms trade. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. Natarajan, Mangai. 2011. International crime and justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10432470. United Nations. 2008. Small arms and light weapons: selected United Nations documents. New York: United Nations. United Nations. 2013. The impact of poorly regulated arms transfer on the work of the United Nations United Nations coordination action on small arms (CASA), 2013. New York: United Nations. https://www.un.org/disarmament/HomePage/ODAPublications/OccasionalPapers/PDF/OP23.pdf Read More