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Preventing finance of arms trade and promoting international regulations

General Assembly 1

I. Background on the General Assembly

The General Assembly is an organ created within the UN in 1945. This is an open

committee that involves 193 members, with each member state having an equal voice and vote.

The General Assembly focuses on policy making, meeting once a year. The most important rules

to follow in this committee are that the General Assembly is restricted from using military

action. This committee is only allowed to give countries recommendations, not orders. Decisions

on important questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and

budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly. Decisions on other

questions are by simple majority.

II. Background on the prevention of finance of arms and trade and promoting
international regulations
Since the end of the Cold War in 1991, there have been numerous treaties and

compromises to relieve tensions between countries around the world. Yet, despite the various

countries best efforts, constant war and armed conflicts have evoked fear in the lives of many.

The United Nations, along with many other individual governments, have made it a goal to

reduce and contain the trade of weapons and arms that might fuel and promote the arms trade

and armed conflicts. The prevention of financing the trade of arms and promoting international

trade is a vital topic for the United Nations General Assembly to discuss about; ways to observe

and stop international trade of arms, the creation of new treaties and resolutions to regulate
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international trade, the promotion of international regulations regarding trade of legal and

illegal products,

The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is a multilateral treaty ratified by 91 countries and signed

by 42 other countries, with the purpose to contributing to international and regional peace;

reducing human suffering; and promoting co-operation, transparency, and responsible action by

and among states. The ATT regulates the international trade of conventional weapons. The

treaty was put into action on the 24 of December in New York City, after being drafted and

ratified at a global conferences supervised by the UN. The General Assembly had already

adopted this treaty on 2 of April, 2013. It is estimated that $70 billion dollars are required to

maintain this treaty every year.

Treaties such as these have improved security and foreign relations between countries,

which have reduced international conflicts dramatically. Albeit the efforts of states to stick to

this treaty and to enforce its laws, the UN is aware that underground trade and illegal trade

between individual parties not involving governments occur every day. This committee should

focus on trying to come up with solutions to counter the efforts of terrorist and rebel groups that

look to take possession of arms, which would violate the treaty in place.

III. Useful links for research

http://gimun.org/wp-content/uploads/Guides_GIMUN_2016_DISEC_EN.pdf

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:I5RAW9hueOwJ:www.uasmun.org/upl

oads/2/2/8/3/22837746/topic_1.docx+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=mx
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https://www.kent.ac.uk/economics/documents/GES%20Background%20Documents/Defence/Ga

rcia-Alonso&Levine%20Handbook.pdf

https://www.un.org/press/en/2013/dc3420.doc.htm

https://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/att/

https://www.state.gov/strategictrade/overview/

https://www.armscontrol.org/print/4306

http://www.un.org/events/smallarms2006/pdf/PoA.pdf

http://www.globalissues.org/article/74/the-arms-trade-is-big-business

http://www.unidir.org/files/medias/pdfs/background-paper-prohibiting-arms-transfers-to-non-stat

e-actors-and-the-arms-trade-treaty-paul-holtom-eng-0-259.pdf

http://www.fairpolitics.nl/doc/militaireexport/report.pdf