US, China, Russia seek to weaken arms treaty

　　The world’s three largest arms sellers have raised objections to key elements of a long awaited United Nations arms trade treaty ahead of a meeting in New York today.

　　全球三大军火出口国对各方期待已久的联合国《武器贸易条约》(Arms Trade Treaty)的关键内容提出了反对意见。今日起，联合国将在纽约开会讨论这项条约。

　　The aim of the treaty – in preparation since 2006 – is to reduce the 750,000 arms-related deaths that occur each year. But its backers face a tough challenge to reach agreement on a robust treaty ahead of a July 27 deadline.

　　自2006年起开始草拟的这项条约，旨在减少全球与军火相关的死亡人数（现为每年75万）。但要想赶在7月27日的最后期限之前达成一项强有力的条约，该条约的支持者们还面临艰巨挑战。

　　The US, Russia, and China all oppose the inclusion of binding language aimed at preventing arms from being exported to countries where they could be used to undermine human rights.

　　美国、俄罗斯和中国都反对纳入约束性的措辞，这些措辞的目的是阻止向可能使用武器侵犯人权的国家出口军火。

　　China and the US also want to narrow the range of weapons the treaty covers. Zimbabwe and Syria, meanwhile, reject the idea of a treaty altogether, according to western diplomats.

　　中国和美国还希望收窄该条约覆盖的武器范围。与此同时，西方外交官称，津巴布韦和叙利亚从根本上反对达成这一条约的构想。

　　The US stance is causing difficulty for the UK, which co-sponsored the treaty and which regards the inclusion of ammunition and robust language on human rights as a priority.

　　美国的姿态正给英国制造难题。英国是支持签署这项条约的国家之一，并把覆盖弹药和在人权问题上使用强有力措辞列为条约的重点。

　　The arms trade is already regarded by many as under-regulated. Amnesty International, a human rights group closely involved in the development of the treaty, points out that there are fewer international rules regulating the trade in arms than the trade in bananas.

　　目前已有很多人认为，武器贸易处于监管不足的状态。密切参与该条约拟定过程的人权组织“大赦国际”(Amnesty International)指出，目前规范武器贸易的国际规则比规范香蕉贸易的规则还要少。

　　“We need a legally binding, nationally enforced, universal treaty,” said one western diplomat, noting that, while there was widespread support among most UN members, bringing big exporters like as the US, China and Russia on board would take “time and effort, and require skillful diplomacy”.

　　“我们需要一项具有法律约束力、在国家层面执行、普遍适用的条约，”一名西方外交官表示。这名外交官指出，尽管联合国的多数成员国普遍表示支持，但要争取美国、中国和俄罗斯这样的大出口国给予支持，就需要“时间及努力，还要求具备娴熟的外交手腕”。

　　It is still unclear whether this could become it be the forum to address high level disagreements, such as the recent US accusation that Russia was supplying helicopters to war-torn Syria.

　　目前尚不清楚该条约会否成为解决高层次分歧的论坛，比如近期美国指控俄罗斯向战火中的叙利亚供应直升机。

　　But the idea is to force countries to think about the consequences of their arms exports and employ a rigorous risk analysis process, as already happens in areas such as the European Union.

　　不过，该条约的构想是迫使各国考虑其军火出口的后果，并采用一套严谨的风险分析流程，就像欧盟等地已经在实行的政策那样。

　　As with many other UN treaties, US objections are based on national sovereignty concerns.

　　美国的反对是基于国家主权方面的担忧，就像该国对其他不少联合国条约的态度一样。

　　In October 2009, the Obama administration reversed Washington’s opposition to the ATT and took an active role in negotiations. But the US is still resisting binding language prohibiting arms transfers to countries if there is strong evidence they could be used to undermine human rights. It also opposes the inclusion of ammunition, arguing that this is too sensitive and technically difficult to implement.

　　2009年10月，奥巴马政府逆转了美方对《武器贸易条约》的反对态度，开始在谈判中扮演积极角色。但美方至今仍抵制某些约束性措辞，即如果有强大证据显示武器可能被用于侵犯人权，就禁止向相关国家提供军火。美方还反对把弹药纳入覆盖范围，辩称这过于敏感，而且在技术上难以实施。

　　Meanwhile, Russia is one of the 41 signatures of the Wassanar arrangement regulating the trade in conventional arms and duel use technology. Even so, it is against the ATT introducing binding rules on international human rights, international humanitarian law and socio-economic development. Moscow argues that such language is open to subjective and ideological interpretation.

　　俄罗斯是《关于常规武器和两用物品及技术出口控制的瓦森纳安排》(The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies)的41个签约国之一。即便如此，该国仍反对《武器贸易条约》在国际人权、国际人道主义法律和社会经济发展方面订立约束性的规则。俄方提出，此类措辞容易受到主观和意识形态化的解释。

　　In contrast, China has not yet signed any arms controls agreements and is seen as one of the most important nations to get on board. Though it says it broadly accepts the idea of a treaty, it is likely to be one of the most challenging nations to persuade to accept robust regulation and a link to human rights, which it says is too subjective.

　　与此形成反差的是，中国尚未签署任何武器控制协定，并被外界视为需参与此类控制的最重要国家之一。虽然中国表示在整体上接受订立条约的构想，但无论是就接受强有力的监管还是就与人权挂钩而言，中国都很可能是最难被说服的国家之一。中方目前表示人权方面的联系过于主观。

　　Those involved in the negotiations say Beijing wants to exclude small arms and light weapons and government-to-government transfers, which would effectively gut the treaty, according to its sponsors.

　　参与谈判的人士表示，中方希望排除小型武器和轻武器、以及政府对政府的军火供应。按照条约支持者的说法，那实际上等于废了这项条约。