Kerry won’t sign on the dotted line … yet

More than 60 nations today signed the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty at U.N. headquarters, displaying a strong show of support for the world’s first international pact regulating the $70 billion international arms trade.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the official opening of the treaty for signatures. But he said that while the Obama administration intends to sign the treaty, he would not join dozens of other leading allies from Britain, France, Germany, Japan, in doing so today.

"The treaty is an important contribution to efforts to stem the illicit trade in conventional weapons, which fuels conflict, empowers violent extremists, and contributes to violations of human rights," Kerry said in a statement. "The United States welcomes the opening of the Arms Trade Treaty for signature, and we look forward to signing it as soon as the process of conforming the official translations is completed satisfactorily."

Kerry offered no explanation as to why a matter so technical as "translation" had held up American action. But U.N. diplomats familiar with the dispute said that the United States remains unwilling to commit until the lengthy, sometimes contentious, process of translating the treaty, which was negotiated in English, is written down in the other official U.N. languages — Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish.

The United States had challenged the translation of certain words and passages into foreign languages, including Spanish and Russian. Last week, the U.N. posted the corrections and the U.N. membership has 90 days to challenge the final translation. The United States will considering offering its signature after that process is completed.

The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly adopted the Arms Trade Treaty 154 to 3 on April 2, overcoming stiff opposition from Iran, North Korea, and Syria and drawing the enthusiastic backing of the United States. But the treaty will not go into force until 90 days after at least 50 nations have ratified the pact. April’s U.N. vote (which drew 23 abstentions) revealed broader misgivings by dozens of countries, including Egypt, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan — which argued the treaty would extend unfair advantages to the world’s largest arms exporters. Two major arms exporters, China and Russia, also abstained on the vote.

Argentina’s Foreign Minister Hector Timmerman was the first person to sign the treaty.

Alistair Burt, Britain’s parliamentary undersecretary of state, said his government would "aim to ratify" the treaty within a year. "After 10 years of campaigning and 7 years of negotiation the Arms Trade Treaty has opened for signature and the international community has queued up to sign it," he said. "The treaty is now the international blueprint for the regulation of conventional arms and it is a fresh starting point for international cooperation."

Under the treaty, states are banned from transferring arms to countries, including Iran and North Korea, that are subject to U.N. arms embargoes, or to countries believed to be preparing to use them to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes.

The treaty would require governments to establish a national record-keeping system that would allow them to track the trade in conventional arms, and to ensure that weapons are not illegally diverted to terrorist organizations or other armed groups. It would also require that governments conduct a risk assessment to determine the likelihood that arms exports are being used to violate or abuse human rights, particularly against women or children.

The arms treaty would apply to several categories of conventional arms, including battle tanks, combat aircraft, warships, attack helicopters, missiles, and small arms. The treaty includes exemptions that would allow the consideration of defense cooperation agreements between governments and allow states to transfer weapons across international borders, so long as the weapons remain under that state’s control.

The National Rifle Association has vowed to vigorously oppose ratification of the treaty in the Senate, claiming it would weaken the Second Amendment.

But Kerry countered today that the treaty "will not undermine the legitimate international trade in conventional weapons, interfere with national sovereignty, or infringe on the rights of American citizens, including our Second Amendment rights."

"The treaty will require the parties to implement strict controls, of the kind the United States already has in place, on the international transfer of conventional arms to prevent their diversion and misuse and create greater international cooperation against black market arms merchants," Kerry said.

Follow me on Twitter @columlynch