Arms trade treaty

According to the World Health Organization, hundreds of thousands of people die each year from small arms violence, with millions more maimed or traumatized. The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), adopted by overwhelming vote by the United Nations on April 2, 2013, is the first international treaty aimed at regulating international transfers of conventional arms that contribute to this crisis. The ATT includes explicit prohibitions against states authorizing arms transfers under certain circumstances, including where there is knowledge that the arms would be used to perpetrate war crimes, genocide, attacks against civilians, and other grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. It creates a new global norm against which states' practice will be measured by other states and by international civil society. International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) serves on the Control Arms Steering Board that coordinated the NGO movement to help develop and pass the Treaty. This presentation will address key points of the Treaty, its entry into force, and how the public health community can be involved in its implementation and monitoring.