UN overwhelmingly approves global arms trade treaty

The 193-nation UN General Assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the first treaty on the global arms trade, which seeks to regulate the US$70 billion business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers.  Delegates to the United Nations General Assembly applaud the passage of the first UN treaty regulating the international arms trade in conventional arms at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, April 2, 2013. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the vote, saying the treaty 'will make it more difficult for deadly weapons to be diverted into the illicit market and ... will help to keep warlords, pirates, terrorists, criminals and their like from acquiring deadly arms.'The treaty will be open for signature on June 3 and will enter into force 90 days after the 50th signatory ratifies it.Mexican UN Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba told reporters it normally takes two to three years for a treaty to come into force, but said he hoped it would happen sooner in this case.Major arms producers China and Russia joined Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and other countries in abstaining.Reuters