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Eugene

(61,937 posts)
Fri Jul 27, 2012, 08:00 PM Jul 2012

UN states fail to reach global arms trade treaty

Source: Associated Press

UN states fail to reach global arms trade treaty

EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press
Updated 06:53 p.m., Friday, July 27, 2012

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Member states failed to reach agreement Friday on a new U.N. treaty to regulate the multibillion dollar global arms trade, and some diplomats and supporters blamed the United States for triggering the unraveling of the monthlong negotiating conference.

Hopes had been raised that agreement could be reached on a revised treaty text that closed some major loopholes by Friday's deadline for action. But the U.S. announced Friday morning that it needed more time to consider the proposed treaty — and Russia and China then also asked for more time.

The U.N. General Assembly voted in December 2006 to work toward a treaty regulating the growing arms trade, with the U.S. casting a "no" vote. In October 2009, the Obama administration reversed the Bush administration's position and supported an assembly resolution to hold four preparatory meetings and a four-week U.N. conference in 2012 to draft an arms trade treaty.

The United States insisted that a treaty had to be approved by the consensus of all 193 U.N. member states.

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Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/article/UN-states-fail-to-reach-global-arms-trade-treaty-3741842.php
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