Arms treaty collapse met with frustration

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NEW YORK, July 30 (UPI) -- Negotiations over an international arms trade treaty set the mark for what's expected in a binding treaty, a director from the ICRC said.

Parties to monthlong negotiations meant to find common ground on an international arms trade treaty failed to find a consensus. Peter Herby, head of the arms control unit at the International Committee of the Red Cross, said nations are called to action to prevent arms transfers if the weapons could be used for possible war crimes.

"We believe that this process has established the norm and the expectation," he said of the negotiations. "What is needed now is to capture this in an internationally legally binding treaty and this has to be completed."

The United States, Russia and China said last week they needed more time to consider the draft treaty.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon described the lack of consensus as a setback despite years of negotiations aimed at finding a way to move the treaty forward.

"I am disappointed that the Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty concluded its 4-week-long session without agreement on a treaty text that would have set common standards to regulate the international trade in conventional arms," he said in a statement.