The UN adopted a draft resolution here today which calls for regulating the acquisition and use of firearms by civilians to protect human rights.
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted the resolution on 'Human rights and the regulation of civilian acquisition, possession and use of firearms' with 41 member states voting in favour and six abstentions.
The resolution calls upon all states to "take appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures consistent with international human rights law and their constitutional frameworks in order to ensure that civilian acquisition, possession and use of firearms are effectively regulated with the aim of enhancing the protection of human rights, in particular the right to life and security of person".
The draft resolution was sponsored by Peru and Ecuador and had a co-sponsorship of 23 other delegations.
The US, the UK, France, Japan, South Korea and Macedonia were the only member states to abstain from voting on the resolution while none voted against.
Explaining the decision to abstain, the US Representative to the UNHRC, Keith M Harper, said "We do not believe that a state's regulation of a purely domestic acquisition, possession and use of firearms is an appropriate topic for international attention, generally, or the HRC, specifically.
"Further we do not regard the domestic actions suggested by the resolution to be required by international human rights obligations. And we do not interpret the resolution as giving any international body or its representatives a voice in the domestic regulation of firearms," added Harper.
"We believe it is the sovereign and exclusive right of any state to regulate and control conventional arms within its territory pursuant to its own legal or constitutional system," he said, adding that the US continues "to look inward as a nation for domestic solutions".
The UK, which also abstained, said, "We are not convinced that the HRC is the appropriate forum for these discussions. We believe that following the terrorist attacks earlier this year and in Tunisia last week this discussion would be better addressed in the public security arena. We do not believe that the proposed report will add any practical value".
