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Follow the yellow brick road?
© Jesper WalderstenThis morning, one of the main committee chairs, in a moment of conference-induced euphoria, told delegations on Day 13 that he felt there was an increasing convergence in positions....
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Brace yourselves for the sell-out
It was, in truth, an extraordinary day. Either more bumbling ineptitude or, just possibly, supreme diplomacy by a master of the dark arts, depending on your viewpoint. © Jesper WalderstenIn the morning...
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A fightback ... of sorts
© Jesper WalderstenThis morning, we heard several enlightened delegations tackle head-on the heart of the new paper on criteria, calling for proposed transfers that would fall foul of the criteria...
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Don't blink ... or you may miss it
© Jesper WalderstenAfter a weekend of talks--it would be a cruel misnomer to call them negotiations--we are not much further forward. On Saturday morning, delegations came into the Indonesia Lounge...
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History in the making?
It's easy to be melodramatic, to be carried away by one's emotions. But this morning, we may well have been witnesses to the genesis of an Arms Trade Treaty worthy of the name. No one would claim that...
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Hungover or hung under?
What goes up must come down. It's the law of gravity. As it is with physics, so it is with human emotions. So now that the "legal high" has worn off and cruel reality bites back, it's back to trying...
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Judgment Day
© Jesper WalderstenAlthough there are surely still more twists and turns to come on the gut-wrenching rollercoaster of this diplomatic conference, we are edging ever closer to an agreement. On Thursday...
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The Arms Trade Treaty: so near and not so far?
So near and yet so far. After coming so close, tragically we fell at what was almost the final hurdle. And yet it had all started so well. A diplomatically adept intervention by China, the best I have...
View ArticleOne more push in the UN or shall we do it right?
We told you we'd be back. Though we had no idea it would be so soon. But sometimes, in the cold light of day, or, more accurately, the cold light hue of a beer or two, you see things with greater...
View ArticleThe Final Arms Trade Treaty Diplomatic Conference
On 7 November 2012, the First Committee of the UN General Assembly voted in favour of draft resolution A/C.1/67/L.11, which called for the ‘Final United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty’ to...
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Unfinished business? Arms Trade Treaty Diplomatic Conference (2nd and final...
(c) Jesper Waldersten The renewed United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty will open on 18 March 2013 for a total of nine days. Optimism is running high that despite the very short time frame...
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Once more into the breach? Or once more into the violation?
So, at last, we have negotiations underway once more. The UN Secretary-General formally opened the Diplomatic Conference at 10.50am on Day 1 and the Australian Ambassador Peter Woolcott was appointed...
View ArticleSlow, slow, quick-quick, slow
Day 2 of the diplomatic conference was a stop-start affair, with plenary discussions of scope, prohibited transfers, and criteria for denying other proposed transfers. It was mainly a restatement of...
View ArticleThe President scrubs up pretty well
Today, discussions in plenary were essentially devoted to criteria, implementation, and the final clauses (before time ran out). On criteria, a large number of states supported the proposal to replace...
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Foreplay... or just treading water?
(c) Jesper Waldersten Aldous Huxley famously said that an intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex. Clearly, he wasn't a participant in the Arms Trade Treaty...
View ArticleThe Second President's Non Paper: Still too much "Non"?
The second version of the President's "Non Paper" was distributed, as promised, on Friday evening. It had been billed unofficially as the high watermark of the Arms Trade Treaty negotiations, but,...
View ArticleOpportunity Knocks
Despite some critical statements in plenary yesterday (notably from India), we are moving slowly but reasonably surely towards the first global treaty to regulate the arms trade. Intensive negotiations...
View ArticleExpect nothing. Live frugally on surprise.
Decision time is approaching. Yesterday rumour and counter-rumour prevailed over fact and fiction. With India clinging to its get-out clause for defence cooperation agreements, the UN Secretary-General...
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"Take it or leave it"
(c) Jesper Waldersten So spoke the President yesterday. No tweaks, no changes, no shabby last-minute deals. Just "take it or leave it". Although there may be more twists and turns to come on the...
View ArticleWill they, won't they?
A last-minute hitch is blocking the adoption of the UN Arms Trade Treaty. Apparently, Iran, North Korea, and Syria have indicated their intention to block the consensus, claiming that the rules of...
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