Arms Trade Treaty, 2018

The map shows the geography of the 2013 UN General Assembly vote on a treaty designed to regulate the arms trade (but not in nuclear, bacteriological, and chemical weapons). The large majority of states in Europe, America, Africa and Oceania voted in favor while three states voted against: Syria, which was at war, Iran, and North Korea – all states that are very opaque about their arms exports (particularly light weapons). Other countries with an important arms trade manifested their disagreement by abstaining from the vote: these were Russia, China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.