How Do You Know This Treaty’s Working?

Cancun

Supporters of human rights treaties tend to pour a remarkable amount of energy into promoting treaty ratification, while spending remarkably little time thinking about the problems of assessing compliance and, ultimately, whether the treaty is actually working. That’s certainly been the case with advocates of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The consequences of this modus operandi are evident here in Cancun, where the states signed onto the pact are holding their first meeting.