The Government of Costa Rica was pleased by the approval of the Arms Trade Treaty, in the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization (UN) , where the treaty received a positive vote of 154 countries.
The President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, expressed satisfaction that an overwhelming majority of UN members has given its approval to the arms and gun control proposal led by Costa Rica.
“It is a great triumph of our foreign policy and confirms the leadership of Costa Rica to the United Nations,” said the governor and also the Ambassador Eduardo Ulibarri and Foreign Minister, Enrique Castillo.
After more than seven years of diplomatic effort, Costa Rica has led the initiative for the need for a global instrument governing international trade in conventional arms and set binding criteria.
“Costa Rica has starred in one of the fundamental struggle for disarmament. Once again, we put our supreme value for peace and our moral power as a disarmed country to advocate for a world without weapons, “Chinchilla said.
This policy undertaken by the country at international level has been consistent with the internal politics of firearms and gun control.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Minister, Enrique Castillo Barrantes, noted that Costa Rica is one of the seven co-authors of the Treaty, along with Argentina, Australia, Finland, Japan, Kenya, and the United Kingdom.
Castillo Chancellor also highlighted the collaborative spirit of the majority of nations, and the role the United Nations and multilateralism. He emphasized of system international support as one of the most important means to resolve security issues in accordance with international law.
“It is a victory that showed again our foreign policy that transcends governments exercising their responsibility in a given time, which is anchored to human rights, in defense of the multilateral system and promotion of international humanitarian law, peace and security. “said the Ambassador.
He added: “It is a victory for the moral force of Costa Rica, despite it being a small country with limited resources; you get an achievement that will have a major impact worldwide.”
The treaty covers a wide range of conventional weapons, including ammunition, parts and components. It also establishes a series of requirements that must be met for an export of weapons is legitimate. These include considerations of human rights and international humanitarian law, something that Costa Rica insisted from the beginning of the process.
Costa Rica presented five specific proposals, which received the support of a large majority of States. These proposals were related to issues such as transparency in reporting transfers of conventional arms and humanitarian standards binding human rights to deny a transfer, the impact of arms transfers on corruption and socio-economic development of the importing and the importance of having a strong Secretariat for the implementation of the Treaty.
The Costa Rica News (TCRN)
San Jose Costa Rica
