No excuses

Defense Minister confirms support for Arms Trade Treaty, mounting pressure on the rapporteur in the Lower House of Congress

The main doubt harbored by the rapporteur of the bill to ratify the ATT (Arms Trade Treaty) in the Public Security and Combat of Organized Crime Committee of the Lower House, Congressman Lincoln Portela, has been dispelled in a statement by Defense Minister Raul Jungmann in support of the treaty.

Under pressure from organizations calling for the ratification of the agreement – the first to regulate international transfers of conventional arms and munitions – and ignoring pronouncements from the Executive over the past three years, Portela has said he is awaiting a public statement from the minister before he releases his report.

Jungmann reiterated the Ministry of Defense’s support for the treaty, which has already been ratified by 92 countries, at a joint public hearing in the Lower House staged by the Foreign Relations and National Defense Committee, the Social Security and Family Committee, the Public Security and Combat of Organized Crime Committee and the National Integration and Regional and Amazon Development Committee on June 28.

Responding to a question from Congressman Paulo Teixeira, Jungmann said that “the Ministry of Defense, I am stating publicly, supports [the ATT]”.

Member organizations of the Coalition for the Responsible Export of Arms, among them Conectas, sent a letter to Portela stating that, with this declaration of support from the Ministry, the reservations previously held by the congressman have been resolved.

They also reiterated the message of the President of the Arms Trade Treaty, the Finish diplomat Klaus Korhonen, who when visiting Brazil in June emphasized the importance of the country finally ratifying the agreement.

• Click here to read the letter sent to Congressman Lincoln Portela.

Portela was appointed rapporteur of the bill on the ratification of the ATT in the Public Security and Combat of Organized Crime Committee in May 2016 and, to date, he has not submitted his report. The delay in the ratification process prevents the country from participating in strategic decisions on the workings of the treaty and in the Annual Conference of States Parties. According to the Small Arms Survey, Brazil is the fourth largest exporter of small arms – the weapons responsible for most of the killing in the world.