UNITED
NATIONS, April
2 -- After a
full day of
Arms Trade
Treaty
speeches in an
increasingly
empty UN
General
Assembly,
one's eyes can
glaze over at
the
interpretations
offered, to
mix a
metaphor. But
if it's not
reported on
now, when will
it be?
And so
we turn back
to what
Liechtenstein
said late in
the afternoon,
just before
the Holy See
spoke last.
As
clarified to
Inner City
Press after
its 140
character
tweet didn't
capture all
the nuance --
“ the tweet
below was just
forwarded to
me, thanks for
drawing
attention to
my statement
this afternoon
in the
plenary” --
Liechtenstein's
deputy
permanent
representative
Stefan
Barriga's
point was that
the term
“overriding
risk” in the
English text
contains not
surprisingly
some ambiguity
in it:
“namely
whether
in the risk
assessment
some other
factors could
be taken into
account, other
than just the
probability of
the risk
materializing.
That
ambiguity,
however, could
be resolved
when looking
at other
language
versions, all
of which are
equally
authentic. The
French version
speaks of
'preponderant
risk,' the
Spanish of
'manifest
risk,' and the
Russian of
'significant
risk.' These
clearer and
narrower terms
should prevail
over the more
ambiguous
“overriding
risk”. Check
out Article
33, paras. 3
and 4 of the
Vienna
Convention on
the Law of
Treaties,
which
addresses the
issue. (A
separate
question would
of course be
how to
reconcile the
French,
Spanish and
Russian
version – but
they are
really not
very far
apart).”
We love this
stuff -- so
much, it
seems, that we
conflated it
with a
separate
Russian
reliance on
its language
version of the
text, on which
it abstained.
Anyway, duly
noted.
In back to
back press
conferences
about the ATT,
Inner City
Press asked
president
Peter Woolcott
what consensus
meant to him.
He agreed with
the general UN
version,
though he said
he doesn't
like it.
Mexico, on the
other hand, is
arguing that
consensus is
not a rule but
a feeling in
the room, that
any president,
like Woolcott
was, can brand
as consensus.
Would this
work in the
budget
committee? We
doubt it. But
we'll keep
covering it.
Watch this
site.
, 
