Iran's envoy describes UN arms trade treaty as 'flawed'

Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mohammad Khazayee said that the UN's draft treaty to regulate the multibillion-dollar international arms trade contains "legal shortcomings"."The achievement of such a treaty has been rendered out of reach due to many legal flaws and loopholes," Khazayee said, addressing the UN Arms Trade Treaty.He noted that the final draft of the treaty was prepared despite Iran's efforts to address these flaws in a serious and constructive manner."One of those flaws was the treaty's failure to ban sales of weapons to groups that commit acts of aggression," Khazayee said.He asked how the human suffering can be reduced while turning a blind eye to aggression that costs the lives of hundreds of thousands of people?Some 2,000 representatives of governments, international and regional organizations and civil societies have gathered at the UN headquarters in New York City to hammer out the details of the agreement, which was seen as the most important initiative ever about regulation of conventional arms within the UN.If passed, the treaty would apply to all conventional arms within the categories of battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, large-caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers, and small arms and light weapons, according to the draft text.According to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, violence kills more than half a million people each year, including 66,000 women and girls. In addition, about 800 humanitarian workers were killed and nearly 700 injured in armed attacks across the world between 2000 and 2010.