[Date]

President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20500 President Obama: We the undersigned members of the legal profession and scholars of international law are writing to urge the United States government to support a robust Arms Trade Treaty with strong human rights safeguards when UN negotiations reconvene in March. Specifically, the finalized treaty must include provisions requiring States Parties to refuse, suspend or revoke authorization of international arms transfers that are likely to be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of human rights law or international humanitarian law.1 By covering all conventional weapons, this treaty will at last provide global standards for the regulation of small arms and light weapons, including rapid-fire guns and ammunition clips. Concerns have been raised for some time about the impact of small arms and light weapons on civilian populations, and the devastation these weapons bring to conflict zones.2 As long as international arms export regulations allow for the unregulated movement of weapons--small arms and light weapons as well as heavier military hardware--it is inevitable that these weapons will find their way to conflict zones or into the hands of regimes and armed groups that will use them to commit violations of human and humanitarian rights. The U.S. government must use this opportunity to reach agreement with other major weapons exporters, to make it more difficult for human rights violators and other criminals to arm themselves and inflict harm on others. Some have raised concerns about the potential impact of the Arms Trade Treaty on U.S. constitutional rights (specifically, second amendment rights),3 but these fears are unfounded. The proposed treaty will focus on the flow of weapons between countries, not within them. The draft treaty text that emerged from the July 2012 conference clearly states that it is the exclusive right of States to regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including

1

See Amnesty International, How to Apply Human Rights Standards to Arms Transfer Decisions at

Harold Hongju Koh, A World Drowning in Guns, 71 Fordham L. Rev. 2333 (2003). Available at: http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol71/iss6/1; See also Barbara Frey, UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (July 27, 2006). A/HRC/Sub.1/58/27 Available at http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/category,REFERENCE,UNSUBCOM,,,45c30b560,0.html
3

National Rifle Association, http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/ATTPrepCom/Documents/Statements-MS/PrepCom3/NGOstatements/NRA-July-2011.pdf

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through constitutional protections on private ownership.4 The United States can readily support this treaty without impinging on the second amendment constitutional right to bear arms.5 The Arms Trade Treaty presents a unique and important opportunity to build global normative standards around international arms transfers and thereby advance the cause of peace, stability and human rights worldwide. We urge your strong and active support. Signed,

Official Draft of the Arms Trade Treaty, at http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/CONF.217/CRP.1&Lang=E

The Arms Trade and the NRAs Misleading Rhetoric at http://www.armscontrol.org/issuebriefs/The-Arms-Trade-Treaty-and-the-NRAsMisleading-Rhetoric.

Institutional affiliations and professional titles are for purpose of identification only.