Arms Trade Treaty: What prospects for 2013 after the failure of negotiations in July 2012?

Last July the United Nations Member States failed to adopt a treaty that would have established common rules governing the international trade of conventional arms. In March 2013, the States will have a final opportunity to adopt this historic treaty. Nonetheless, the task will be intricate as many disagreements that remain will have to be overcome before a consensus on a final text is reached. When resuming their work, negotiators will rely on a draft text proposed in July, which is analysed hereafter. Welcomed by some and criticized by others, it contains undeniable strong features but also major loopholes and ambiguities. Should these weaknesses remain, they would undermine the ability of the Treaty to meet the objectives assigned to it by the States: increase responsibility in the arms trade to increase human security.