Arms Trade Treaty
Map showing which states have signed or ratified the Treaty. Signed Ratified Acceded
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| Signed | Open for signature from 3 June 2013 |
| Location | New York City, USA |
| Sealed | 2 April 2013 |
| Effective | 24 December 2014 |
| Condition | 90 days after ratification by 50 states (Article 22) |
| Signatories | 130 |
| Parties | 91 |
| Depositary | UN Secretary-General |
| Languages | Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish |
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The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is a multilateral treaty that regulates the international trade in conventional weapons. It entered into force on 24 December 2014. Ninety-one states have ratified the treaty, and a further 42 states have signed but not ratified it.
The ATT is an attempt to regulate the international trade of conventional weapons for the purpose of contributing to international and regional peace; reducing human suffering; and promoting co-operation, transparency, and responsible action by and among states.
The treaty was negotiated in New York City at a global conference under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) from 2–27 July 2012. As it was not possible to reach an agreement on a final text at that time, a new meeting for the conference was scheduled for 18–28 March 2013. On 2 April 2013, the UN General Assembly adopted the ATT.
International weapons commerce has been estimated to reach US$70 billion a year.
The roots of what is known today as the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) can be traced back to the late 1990s, when civil society actors and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates voiced their concerns about the unregulated nature of the global arms trade and its impact on human security.
The ATT is part of a larger global effort begun in 1997 by Costa Rican President and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Óscar Arias. In that year, Arias led a group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates in a meeting in New York to offer the world a code of conduct for the trade in arms. This group included Elie Wiesel, Betty Williams, the Dalai Lama, José Ramos-Horta, representatives of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Amnesty International, and the American Friends Service Committee. The original idea was to establish ethical standards for the arms trade that would eventually be adopted by the international community. Over the following 16 years, the Arias Foundation for Peace & Human Progress has played an instrumental role in achieving approval of the treaty.
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