Bangladesh is considering to become a party to the Arms Trade Treaty to foster peace and security, putting a stop to destabilising arms flow to conflict-ridden regions.
The UN General Assembly in April this year adopted the treaty to regulate international trade in conventional arms from small arms to battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships.
“We have received opinions from two or three stakeholders on the issue and are waiting for views of others,” said an official at the foreign ministry.
A meeting on possible signatories to the treaty was held at the foreign ministry Monday where representatives from the ministries of defence, home, commerce and finance and the Armed Forces Division took part.
So far 83 countries have signed the treaty and four of them, including Barbados and Nigeria, have already ratified it.
An official at the ministry said it was a sensitive treaty because of its relation to conventional weapons used in the defence system of poor nations and Bangladesh needed to analyse it very carefully before signing it.
According to the UN website, the treaty will prevent arms supply to human rights abusers and violators of the law of war and will help keep warlords, pirates and gangs from acquiring these deadly tools.
The US, Russia and China the three major weapon exporting countries have not yet signed the treaty while the UK, France and Germany signed the treaty but are yet to ratify it.
The foreign ministry official said the meeting also discussed ratification of another treaty the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons.
Bangladesh is a party to the convention and it might ratify it after getting positive responses from all stakeholders.
The convention is aimed at prohibiting use of certain conventional weapons that may be deemed excessively injurious or to have indiscriminate effects.
The official said ratification of the convention needed the cabinet’s approval while an executive decision was needed to become a signatory to the Arms Trade Treaty.
Twenty-three multilateral disarmament treaties have been adopted since 1978 with the UN and Bangladesh is a party to all of them except the Arms Trade Treaty.
