UN chief welcomes global arms trade treaty

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the approval of the text of the global arms trade treaty by the UN General Assembly on Tuesday referring to it as a historic achievement of diplomacy and culmination of the years-long efforts of the world community. "The Treaty will make it more difficult for deadly weapons to be diverted into the illicit market" and "will help to keep warlords, pirates, terrorists, criminals and their like from acquiring deadly arms," he pointed out. The arms trade treaty will be open for signature on June 3, 2013, and will enter into force provided it is ratified by 50 UN member-nations. The resolution, which added the draft treaty a final status, was carried by 154 votes. Iran, DPRK, and Syria voted against it. Another 23 countries, Russia among them, abstained from voting.