New York - UN
leader Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday it was a "disgrace" that there is
no global arms trade regulation as he opened treaty talks held up by
Palestinian demands for a place in the negotiations.
The 193 UN members
have until 27 July to hammer out a deal for a treaty on dealing in conventional
weapons, which experts estimate to be worth more than $70bn a year.
"Poorly
regulated international arms transfers are fuelling civil conflicts,
destabilising regions and empowering terrorists and criminal networks,"
Ban told the meeting, which started a day late because of the Palestinian
dispute.
"We do not
have a multilateral treaty of global scope dealing with conventional arms. This
is a disgrace," he said.
"The world is
over-armed and peace is underfunded," Ban added. He highlighted how
military spending is now over $1 trillion a year and the past six decades of UN
peacekeeping operations have cost less than six weeks of current global
military spending.
Ban said there
have to be standards for arms exports and strict national legislation, though
he acknowledged that "the global arms trade touches on core national
interests".
Comprehensive
document
UN states have
spent seven years preparing for the arms trade treaty talks.
All of the major
producers have reasons to limit any treaty, though all say they want a
comprehensive document.
The United States
is by far the world's biggest arms trader, accounting for more than 40% of
conventional weapons sales. Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia follow.
The United States
- which produces six billion bullets a year - wants to exclude munitions,
according to diplomats. China does not want the treaty to cover small arms,
which it exports en masse to developing countries.
China, Russia and
Arab countries say the accord's criteria are politically motivated.
European nations
say they want a treaty that at least makes the arms trade more transparent.
Nationally
enforced
Ahead of the negotiations, the foreign
ministers of France, Britain and Germany and Sweden's trade minister called for
a treaty that covers all conventional weapons, including small and light
weapons, all munitions and related technologies.
They said any
treaty should be legally binding, but nationally enforced.
The talks should
have started on Monday but were held up by a dispute over Palestinian
representation at the conference. Formal negotiations were suspended for
several hours after Ban's speech as diplomats sought a solution.
Palestinian envoy
Ryad Mansour told reporters his delegation was demanding a place at the talks
because the Palestinians are members of the UN's cultural body Unesco.
As the arms talks
are an international conference of states, they should follow the tradition of
being open to members of the specialised UN agencies, the Palestinian diplomat
said.
Israel and the
United States were opposing any solution that gave the Palestinians a statute
higher than their position as observers at the United Nations, UN diplomats
said.
Two days lost
The Vatican, which
is also an observer at the UN, had demanded a similar status to the
Palestinians, who have launched a campaign in the past year to seek greater
international recognition.
"We are
demonstrating a tremendous amount of flexibility to allow the conference to
move forward," Mansour told reporters.
But in the end the
Palestinians and the Vatican agreed to sit among the delegations, but as
observers, without pressing to be recognised as participating member states.
"There is no
time to waste on procedural issues... we have lost two days, it is regrettable
because the world should focus its attention on developing this treaty,"
said Brian Wood, who works on arms issues with Amnesty International.