(Transcript from World News Radio)
The United Nations estimates that more than 50,000 people have died in conflicts each year over the past decade - many of them innocent civilians killed by small arms and light weapons.
It says the widespread availability of such weapons around the world have allowed rebels, gangs and terrorist groups to boost their firepower - and it's calling for urgent action to address the problem.
Van Nguyen has the details.
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After years of negotiations, a new treaty came into effect five months ago, designed to regulate the international trade in conventional weapons - ranging from small guns, to tanks, and even warships.
A total of 130 countries, including Australia, have signed up to what's simply called the Arms Trade Treaty, or ATT.
But United Nations officials say that so far, the treaty has done little to stem the flow in illegal trafficking of conventional weapons across the world - and they're continuing to claim thousands of innocent lives.
It's an issue that's been the focus of a special session of the UN Security Council.
One speaker was Karamoko Diakite, from the West Africa Action Network on Small Arms in Ivory Coast.
"(Starts in French..) We were terrorised for days, hunted like animals, without water, without food, without receiving help and constantly living in fear of being killed. And we were not the only ones. The rest of the inhabitants suffered as well. Regardless of age, sex or status. We all paid the price. But for what?"
Karamoko Diakite was describing the terror he and others experienced amid political turmoil in his country, when some local leaders distributed small arms and ammunition to their supporters.
He says thousands were killed as weapons flowed into Ivory Coast from neighbouring countries that were also in turmoil.
(Translated)"Power fell to groups of young, lawless offenders in possession of arms would not hesitate to take a life or to indulge in all forms of abuse on a terrorized and paralysed population, particularly on women and girls. Simarly, illegal weapons and ammunition coming from the abandoned arsenals after the fall of Gaddafi in Libya started to pour into the region and presently continue to flood our region and feed terrorist movements in Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the Arms Trade Treaty should be a critical measure to reduce the amount of weapons used in conflicts around the world.
"The causes of conflict are complex. However, weapons and ammunition - and their storage facilities - are physical commodities. Guns can be licensed, marked, or confiscated; ammunition can be tracked, removed, or destroyed; and depots can be guarded, cleared, or secured. Deny access to illegal weapons and ammunition, and you deny criminals, armed groups and extremists a central means to perpetrate violence, intimidation and harm."
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein is urging all UN members to strongly back the Arms Trade Treaty.
"We are all aware small arms do not only make easy the taking and maiming of lives, but also kill economies and the social bonds on which every kind of collective institution and progress rely. The ATT's recent entry to force is a real source of hope. If more members of State ratify it, agree to implement it genuinely, particularly Article Six and Seven providing for the human rights safeguards that are the treaty's heart.. the Security Council should continue to provide strong support to the ATT."
China and Russia are two permanent members of the Security Council which are yet to sign the treaty.
But China's UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi says his country is still doing its best to prevent the illegal trading in weapons.
(Through interpreter)"Efforts to stop the illicit trade of small arms and the light weapons are of great importance to the maintenance of regional peace and stability and the guarantee of national stabilty and development to building a world of peace, stability and without arms. Especially the protection of women and children, to ensure their security and safety is the common dream of all countries. China is ready to join the rest of the international community in an unremitting effort to promote the elimination of the illicit trade and resolve the problem of excessive stockpile and abuse."
Security Council President and representative of Lithuania, Raimonda Murmokaite, says member governments must act to protect innocent civilians.
"We can make a difference in the lives of those women, those widows, those girls and boys, those elderly and those displaced that often have no other recourse, no other defences than the resolve and determination of the international community to act on their behalf. We should and we must."
Australia told the special session the Security Council should improve its monitoring of arms trafficking.
It suggested the appointment of expert groups to collect more information on trafficking routes, and key players in the arms trade.
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