Mexico signed the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) on Monday, marking the first legal instrument that regulates the trade in arms and ammunition and seeks to prevent them from reaching the black market, according to a press release from the Foreign Ministry.
The signature was made by the Secretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Juan Manuel Gomez Robledo at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York. Along with Mexico, 61 other countries ratified the treaty, which was adopted last April by the General Assembly.
Among the most important countries that signed the treaty are the U.K., France and Spain. On the other hand, the United States---the main supplier of weapons in the world and where there is a strong debate on the sale and possession of weapons---will sign later, while other powers like Russia and China have reserved positions at the moment.
Gómez Robledo described the agreement as "historic," as it is the first legal instrument setting standards for controlling the flow of weapons across countries. And for the United Nations, the goal of the ATT is to end trafficking of conventional arms and to prevent them from falling onto the black market and to promote cooperation and transparency in the arms trade between countries.
Ratifying nations are required to submit a "code of conduct" to ensure that the buyer country is not within an arms embargo set by the UN, Security Council sanctions or the possibility of social conflicts with risk of genocide.
The NGO Amnesty International noted the agreement as "very positive" and stated that the fact that over 60 countries are showing their intention to sign an agreement to stop weapons reaching the hands of those who commit atrocities is an important move.
In the case of Mexico, an increase in violence due to fighting between drug cartels in recent years was attributed to illegal arms trade. According to government statistics, this violence left more than 70,000 dead between 2006 and 2012.
The Foreign Ministry stressed that Mexico promoted and participated in the negotiations leading to the adoption of the ATT by the General Assembly last April with 153 votes in favor and three against. This is the first agreement that regulates conventional arms international sales, a market worth about $80,000 million per year.
Although there is optimism that many more countries will join the ATT, the agreement will enter into force after ratification by at least 50 countries---a process that, according to experts, could take up to two years.