UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the first ever global arms trade treaty, which seeks to regulate the 70 billion dollars business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers.
The resolution adopting the landmark treaty was approved with 154 votes in favour‚ 3 against and 23 abstentions.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the vote‚ saying the treaty “will make it more difficult for deadly weapons to be diverted into the illicit market and will help keep warlords‚ pirates‚ terrorists‚ criminals and their like from acquiring deadly arms.”
The treaty will be open for signature on June 3 and will enter into force 90 days after the 50th signatory ratifies it.
Mexican UN Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba told reporters it normally takes two to three years for a treaty to come into force, but said he hoped it would happen sooner in this case.
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