An overall of 18 countries, including Romania, have simultaneously filed Wednesday the instruments of ratification of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) during a ceremony at the headquarters of the United Nations (UN) in New York, AFP informs, according to Agerpress.
They are 17 member states of the European Union (Germany, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the UK) and El Salvador.
A year after the treaty was adopted by the UN General Assembly, the number of ratifications thus reached 31 of the 118 countries that have signed the text so far.
This treaty, the first of its kind has to be ratified by at least 50 states to enter into force.
"At the current pace of signing and ratifying, the ATT treaty could enter into force in the second half of this year," Virginia Gamba said, Deputy UN High Representative on Disarmament.
In a joint statement, the 17 European countries declared themselves "confident" in the possibility of the treaty’s entry into force by the end of 2014 and stressed that "the treaty will really make a difference only if it is properly applied '.
The treaty seeks to empower states in terms of international trade in conventional weapons, a market worth over $ 80 billion per year. Each signatory country must evaluate before any transaction if the sold weapons are likely to be used to violate an international embargo to violate human rights or they could be diverted for the benefit of criminals.
Weapons range from pistols to aircrafts and warships, and even rockets. The text refers to all international transfers (import, export, transit, brokerage) without affecting national laws relating to the acquisition and possession of weapons.