“By vetoing this historic document, Iran, North Korea and Syria demonstrate the challenges civil society and supportive governments faced during the negotiations. In campaigning for this treaty, we called upon states to save lives and reduce human suffering and, fortunately, most governments heeded the call,” said Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International.

All three countries are under some form of sanctions, including arms embargoes, and have abysmal human rights records – having even used arms against their own citizens. The atrocities they have committed are precisely the type that the draft treaty aims to prevent, Amnesty said.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also expressed his disappointment with the failure of the Final United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to reach an agreement among all 193 Member States on a treaty text during the last day of the conference.

Some 2,000 representatives of Governments, international and regional organizations and civil society had gathered in New York since 18 March to hammer out the details of what was seen as the most important initiative ever regarding conventional arms regulation within the UN.

If passed, the treaty would have applied to all conventional arms within the following categories: battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large-calibre artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers, and small arms and light weapons, according to the draft text.

Armed violence kills more than half a million people each year, including 66,000 women and girls. In addition, between 2000 and 2010, almost 800 humanitarian workers were killed in armed attacks and another 689 injured, according to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs.

The previous attempts to reach a consensus on the treaty ended without success in July 2012. In December, the UN General Assembly agreed to a final conference and set today as the deadline for the two-week negotiations.

“The question of the arms embargo was raised by some members of the European Council. We agreed to task our foreign ministers to assess the situation as a matter of priority already at their informal meeting next week in Dublin, and to develop common positions.”

The lastest development comes amid calls by France and Britain to lift an embargo on supplying weapons to the Syrian opposition with President Francois Hollande warning that France could do it alone if no EU agreement is reached.

The European Union is divided over the issue, with some fearing that sending more weapons to Syria could further escalate the  two-year conflict.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page,  has called on syrians to take to the streets after Friday prayers under the rallying cry “Two years of sacrifice towards victory” as the syrian government beefed up security measures.

The conflict erupted in March 2011 when protesters inspired by Arab world uprisings took to the streets  across Syria calling for freedom.

At the same time, the commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army vowed to continue fighting until Assad’s “criminal” regime is gone, AP reported.

“Dear friends, the Free Syrian Army (fighters) will not give up.”

The United Nations humanitarian chief today urged the international community to do more to end the crisis in Syria which is now entering its third year.

The call came as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos wrapped up a two-day visit to Turkey, where she spoke with Syrian refugees in the south-eastern Kilis Province.

“I met families who fled their homes more than 18 months ago. They are in despair. They feel abandoned by the international community. They all want the same thing: the conflict to end so that they can go home,”

As part of her visit, Ms. Amos also met in Ankara with the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister, Besir Atalay, and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, as well as other Government officials and senior humanitarian officials, including the President of the Turkish Red Crescent Society (KIZILAY), Ahmet Lutfi Akar.

Syria has been wracked by violence since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011. Up to 70,000 people have died, more than 1 million have fled to neighbouring countries, 2 million have been internally displaced and up to 4 million are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The arms show is “organized under the auspices” of the French Ministry of Defense.

Human Rights Watch has called for the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Syria, and for Rosoboronexport in particular to stop supplying arms to Syria in light of compelling evidence that the Syrian army is responsible for crimes against humanity.

On June 3, Human Rights Watch publicly called for governments and companies around the world to stop signing new contracts with arms suppliers such as Rosoboronexport that supply weapons to Syria.

“France shouldn’t have it both ways – it can’t be a leading voice calling for an end to grave violations in Syria and imposing an arms embargo, while allowing Syria’s main arms dealer to come to Paris to promote its weapons and land new deals,” said Jean-Marie Fardeau, France director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s not acceptable to do business as usual with a company arming a government engaged in atrocities against its people,” she added.

Some 1,300 exhibitors from 70 countries are expected to attend the Eurosatory arms show. Rosoboronexport, which is widely reported to be Syria’s main weapons supplier, plans to have an extensive presence at the show. 

”Under international law, providing weapons to Syria while its forces are committing crimes against humanity may translate into assisting in the commission of those crimes,” HRW added.

According to HRW, Rosoboronexport should not be allowed to promote itself and seek new contracts at Eurosatory and if Rosoboronexport is to be permitted to participate in the arms show, all arms show participants, including official delegations and private arms brokers, should refuse to negotiate any new deals with Rosoboronexport.

Public information sources indicate that Rosoboronexport is Syria’s main weapons supplier. Since 2007, Rosoboronexport has had a virtual monopoly on arms exports from Russia. During that period, Syria’s arms imports increased more than five-fold compared with the previous five-year period, according to research by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Russia provided 78 percent of Syria’s imports of major conventional weapons from 2007 to 2011, SIPRI found.

In addition to Russia, SIPRI has also identified recent weapons transfers to Syria from Belarus and Iran.