Arms Trade Treaty

On April 2, 2013, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was adopted at the United Nations in New York and entered into force on December 24, 2014.

Project Ploughshares, in partnership with other NGOs, has actively promoted an Arms Trade Treaty since the mid-1990s.

Ploughshares is a member of the Steering Board of the Control Arms Coalition, a group of NGOs promoting the Arms Trade Treaty.

• Charting the Course for an Arms Trade Treaty
• Project Ploughshares and the Arms Trade Treaty process
• Canada’s call for a firearms exemption
• Civilian or military firearms? The Canadian Criminal Code makes no distinction, but Canada has proposed one for the ATT

• Control Arms
• Arms Trade Treaty
• International Action Network on Small Arms
• EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports

On April 2, 2013, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was adopted at the United Nations in New York.

This historic achievement marked the culmination of 15 years of civil society advocacy for binding common standards to prevent irresponsible transfers of conventional arms.

Project Ploughshares has been an active member of the international civil society coalition that has pressed for an effective ATT.

For less recent information, please visit our page on the ATT’s Background.

Project Ploughshares, in partnership with Asociación para Políticas Públicas in Argentina and The Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress in Costa Rica, have been carrying out a project funded by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) through the UN Trust Facility Supporting Cooperation on Arms Regulation (UNSCAR) is focused on the effective implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean. The project is expected to foster synergies, encourage harmonization, and identify best practices among regional groups of states parties to the ATT.

Each of the key stages of the project, including a series of regional roundtables, has helped deepen and solidify the understanding of regional dynamics around the arms trade in Latin America and the Caribbean. The project has allowed dozens of participants from foreign and trade ministries, the police and military, customs agencies, academia and civil society organizations in South America, Central America and the Caribbean to examine arrangements for treaty implementation in light of regional and international realities concerning the arms trade.

Best practices, lessons learned, and approaches to common implementation challenges have been considered by participants across the region. Further, important international and inter-institutional relationships that were thus far lacking have been established and widely welcomed. The project has allowed for much-needed exchanges among critical stakeholders involved with the implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty in a variety of official capacities. Moreover, some of the project findings have also served to foster important discussions at related forums and conferences.