The Arms Trade Treaty

Revision of the Advanced Draft Text

Published in October 2012, Geneva Academy Briefing No. 2, The Draft Arms Trade Treaty, reviews the advanced ATT draft text presented to the diplomatic conference in New York.

The Provisions of the Treaty

Following the General Assembly’s adoption of the ATT text on 2 April 2013, the Geneva Academy published Briefing No. 3, The Arms Trade Treaty, which summarizes the process that led to the formal adoption of the text and comments briefly on the provisions of the treaty.

Article 7: Serious Violations of International Human Rights Law

In August 2014, the Geneva Academy published Briefing No. 6, What Amounts to Serious Violations of International Human Rights Law, which analyzes the notion of ‘serious violation of international human rights law’ in relation to Article 7 of the ATT. This article requires a state party to assess, prior to the authorization of the export of conventional arms, the potential of these arms to contribute to the commission or the facilitation of a serious violation of international human rights law.

The Arms Trade Treaty: A Commentary

In August 2016, Andrew Clapham, with Stuart Casey-Maslen (University of Pretoria), Gilles Giacca (International Committee of the Red Cross) and Sarah Parker (Small Arms Survey) published The Arms Trade Treaty: A Commentary (Oxford University Press). This edited volume comprehensively discusses and interprets each provision of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), situating them vis-à-vis relevant legal regimes, including human rights, international humanitarian law and disarmament.