ATT Meeting Confirms Worst Fears for International Gun Control

Amidst ongoing wars in Ukraine and Yemen, China posturing in the Taiwan Strait, and increasing instability in the Horn of Africa, the 111 States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) met last month for their 8th Conference of States Parties to the ATT in Geneva, Switzerland.

With widespread reports of conventional arms shipments into these conflict zones being diverted to the black market and fueling violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws, one would have thought that proponents of the ATT would have been salivating at the chance to highlight and discuss the ways in which the ATT could be used to combat such crimes. 

That, however, was not the case.