Discussion of Next Steps for the Arms Trade Treaty
| Date | Friday, April 5, 2013 |
| Time | 9 to 10:30 a.m. |
| Location | The Stimson Center, 1111 19th Street NW |
The Stimson Center presents:
Discussion of Next Steps for the Arms Trade Treaty
Friday, April 5, 2013
9 to 10:30 a.m.
The Stimson Center
1111 19th Street, NW, 12th Floor
Washington, D.C.
Stimson's Managing Across Boundaries Initiative invites you to a discussion of the Arms Trade Treaty, which the United Nations General Assembly voted to adopt April 2. After two weeks of deliberations from March 18-28, the United Nations Final Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty ended without consensus when Iran, North Korea, and Syria blocked the treaty's adoption. Led by a group of 12 countries, including the United States, the General Assembly supported the overwhelming majority of states in favor of an ATT.
Speakers:
Thomas Countryman, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, U.S. Department of State and head of U.S. delegation to the ATT Conference.
Remy Nathan, vice president, international affairs, Aerospace Industries Association.
Galen Carey, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
Moderated by:
Rachel Stohl, senior associate, Managing Across Boundaries, the Stimson Center.
The ATT is the first treaty regulating the international trade in conventional arms by establishing common international standards for national implementation. The absence of such international standards has fueled conflicts, armed violence, and crime around the world by allowing rogue regimes, rebel groups, terrorist organizations, and criminals to be armed with impunity. For decades, states have tried to close these dangerous loopholes without success.
The United States, which maintains the "gold standard" of regulations for conventional arms transfers and is the largest conventional arms exporter, played a major role in the negotiations. The United States maintains strong national security, political, commercial, and humanitarian interests in seeing a strong, practical, and effective treaty and to see U.S. export control standards promoted globally. This event will highlight the reactions to the successful adoption of the treaty from key U.S. stakeholders and discuss what comes next for the ATT.