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At
UN, ATT Passes
With 22
Abstentions,
Woolcott Tells
ICP of
Speakers List
UNITED
NATIONS, April
2 -- When the
Arms Trade
Treaty was
blocked on
March 28 under
the rules of
consensus, the
headlines read
that only
three
countries were
against it:
Syria, North
Korea and
Iran.
But
even then, in
speeches like
Sudan's and
Belarus', one
could hear
abstentions
coming.
And
Tuesday in the
UN General
Assembly there
were 23
abstentions,
including the
two most
populous
countries on
Earth, China
and India, and
the most
populous
predominantly
Muslim
country,
Indonesia.
Afterward,
Inner
City Press
asked ATT
president
Peter
Woolcott,
after thanking
him on behalf
of the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
about
criticism of
his allowing,
before a
promised
ruling, Mexico
and others to
make an
argument
against the UN
meaning of
consensus.
He
replied that
there was a
speakers list
that he
followed. He
said he
personally
does not favor
negotiating
under the rule
of consensus.
Other might
say: it
showed.
Inner
City Press
asked Mexico's
Luis Alfonso
de Alba, who
gave a
thoughtful
answer about
"no vetoes,"
that may
resonate in
the UN Budget
Committee.
t
It was
announced that
Angola
did not
abstain, but voted
Yes (hence, 22
abstentions,
still quite
populous.)
In
speeches
before
Tuesday's
vote, as
Syria's Bashar
Ja'afari
spoke, US
Ambassador
Susan Rice was
walking out.
After that, a
full hour into
the speeches,
Qatar's
delegation
rolled in.
They ended up
abstaining.
Qatar supports
rebels in
Syria.
Sudan
on the other
hand said it
was
abstaining,
citing the
failure to
address the
arming of
“mutinous”
groups, like
the SPLM-North
and rebels in
Darfur.
Russia,
which
by a point of
order Thursday
night put an
end to the
Mexico-launched
attempt to
redefine
consensus, on
Tuesday
morning zeroed
in on what
knowledge of
genocide might
mean, in
Article 6.3.
Its Ambassador
Churkin said
Russia would
not have
broken
consensus on
March 28, but
would now
abstain, as
did China.
It's hard to
call this
consensus.
Watch this
site.
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