Douglas Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Alexander on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the remaining states who have not yet ratified the Arms Trade Treaty do so.

Mr William Hague

We will work to encourage states to sign and to ratify, in order to reach the 50 ratifications that are required to bring the Treaty into force. Like the negotiations on the Treaty itself, this will take time and require the considerable efforts and persistence of a broad coalition of supporters.

The UK has allocated £350,000 to support projects that will help countries to sign, ratify and implement the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). We are working through the UN and EU with countries that require technical assistance and advice on how to implement certain aspects of the Treaty e.g. enforcement training and framing legislation correctly. Other activities include raising awareness with key partners in regions such as West Africa, where communities are seriously affected by the illicit trade in Small Arms.

This year, through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s counter-proliferation programme, we will be funding a series of ATT-related projects specifically focused on ATT signature, ratification, implementation and early entry into force.