Rights groups slam new U.N. arms trade treaty draft
Source: Reuters
Rights groups slam new U.N. arms trade treaty draft
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS | Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:43pm EDT
(Reuters) - Human rights groups on Monday sharply criticized the latest draft of what could become the first international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade, accusing the United States and others of pushing to dilute it.
Several Western delegations, however, played down the complaints of groups like Oxfam, Amnesty International, the World Council of Churches and Control Arms, saying the latest draft showed progress, though improvements were clearly needed.
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The previous draft treaty said that the following weapon types would be covered by the pact "at a minimum" - tanks, armored combat vehicles, large-caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers and small arms and light arms.
But in the new draft, the words "at a minimum" have been removed, which rights groups said has dramatically narrowed the scope of the weapons to be covered by the treaty.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/25/us-arms-treaty-un-idUSBRE92O0ZW20130325