Guyana’s opposition blocks gun control laws

– while the world negotiates Arms Trade Treaty

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee has lamented that while critical steps are being taken in the international arena to hammer out an Arms Trade Treaty, locally the opposition has voted down a bill that seeks to strengthen this country’s fight against illicit arms.
Negotiators from around 150 countries gathered in New York at the United Nations for a final push to hammer out a binding international treaty to end unregulated conventional arms sales, a pact that a powerful U. S. pro-gun lobby is urging Washington to reject.

Arms control campaigners and human rights advocates say one person every minute dies worldwide as a result of armed violence, and that a treaty is needed to halt the uncontrolled flow of weapons and ammunition which helps fuel wars, atrocities, and rights abuses.
The UN General Assembly voted in December to relaunch negotiations this week on what could become the first global treaty to regulate the world’s US$ 70 billion trade for all conventional weapons – from naval ships, tanks, and attack helicopters, to hand guns and assault rifles – after a drafting conference in July 2012 collapsed because the U.S., then Russia and China, wanted more time.
In a statement issued Tuesday evening, Rohee said the Home Affairs Ministry has noted the critical stage of ongoing negotiations at the United Nations.
He said the objective of the treaty is to regulate and control the trade of several categories of weapons from the smallest to the largest, and to prevent firearms and ammunition from getting into the hands of terrorists and criminal elements. Further, the minister has noted the efforts being made by the Caribbean Coalition for the Development and Reduction of Armed Violence (CDRAV), a regional NGO currently waging a campaign to prevent loss of life owing to illegal firearms trafficked between countries.
Failure to understand
“While the Ministry of Home Affairs welcomes the stage at which the negotiations have reached, as well as the lobbying efforts of the CDRAV, and is fully aware that foreign policy is an expression of domestic policy, the ministry, once again, expresses regrets that at the domestic level, the joint opposition has failed to understand and appreciate the international implications of its denunciation of the Amendment to the Firearms Act recently laid in the National Assembly.
“The amendment is aimed at tackling trafficking in fire arms and ammunition and supporting efforts at the international level to hammer out a treaty, curbing the illegal trade in firearms and ammunition.”
The opposition voted down the bill, owing to their stance that Rohee is not fit to lead the security sector.
Strong international
treaty desired
The U.S. said it wants a strong treaty, but the administration is under pressure from the powerful National Rifle Association, the leading U.S. pro-gun group, to block the pact. The group has vowed to torpedo the convention’s Senate ratification if Washington backs it at the UN. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry voiced conditional support for the treaty on Friday, saying Washington was “steadfast in its commitment to achieving a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty that helps address the adverse effects of the international arms trade on global peace and stability. But he did not promise U.S. support. He repeated that America – the world’s number one arms manufacturer – would not accept a treaty that imposed new limits on U.S. citizens’ right to bear arms, a sensitive political issue.
Some 108 countries, led by Mexico, issued a joint statement saying “the overwhelming majority of (UN) member states agree with us on the necessity and the urgency of adopting a strong Arms Trade Treaty. Our voice must be heard… A weak (treaty) could serve to  capitalise the irresponsible and illegal arms trade. This is an outcome we must avoid,” it said.
Among the countries backing the statement are major arms producers Germany and Britain. The point of the treaty is to set standards for all cross-border transfers of any type of conventional weapon – light and heavy.