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How are human rights and the sale of arms (weapons) related? The United Nations believes there is a strong correlation between the two concepts. This Tuesday, the U.N. voted to approve work to create a treaty that would regulate arms sales and to encourage arms dealers to consider how their customers use such armaments.

If passed, such a treaty would be the first of its kind to regulate intercontinental arm sales – all in the hopes of preventing genocide and warfare. The U.N. vote echoes increasing concern from the global community that would like to hold the multibillion-dollar weapons trade to a higher ethical standard. The treaty would make it more difficult for countries to freely trade munitions; a notable example of this might be to eliminate situations such as Russia selling arms to Syria claiming that such a transaction is legal under international law.

While many nations voted to begin the necessary work to draft the treaty, abstaining members such as the Asian powerhouses China and Russia seem to indicate that not everyone is happy with the potential arms embargos. Moreover, the United States seems unlikely to pass this type of treaty as well, given the nation’s history of strong resistance against gun control. Notably, at least 50 member states must ratify a treaty before it can go into effect. However, given the tremendously large amount of votes in favor of such a treaty, many diplomats believe that international arms regulation can begin as soon as two to three years.

For more information on the U.N.’s move regulate arms sales to promote human rights, take a look at this New York Times article:
http://nyti.ms/16j1MMZ

Do you think the U.N. should place embargos on arms? Tell us your thoughts below.