BBC News with Nick Kelly.

The U.N. General Assembly has overwhelmingly approved the first-ever international

treaty">treaty">treaty">treaty

to

regulate

the multibillion-dollar arms trade. It sets new standards for the

export

of conventional weapons from clash nicos to battle tanks. Countries will have to report arms sales and assess whether they could be used to

abuse

human rights. The Australian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Peter Woolcott cheered the negotiations.

“The arms trade

treaty">treaty">treaty">treaty

will set new international standards as well as be a forum to transparency and accountability in the conventional arms trade. So it will stop arms trade in transfer irresponsibly and illegally in order that they might

commit

atrocities in human rights violations and violations of humanitarian law. So I think it’s gonna contribute to regional and international peace and

security

and it will

promote

economic development in the process.”

Only three countries voted against the treaty">treaty">treaty">treaty—Iran, Syria and North Korea, while 23 abstained. Critics doubt the

treaty">treaty">treaty">treaty

will make any difference to the black market in weapons. The United States has called on China and Russia to try to rein in North Korea after it announces it will restart a dormant nuclear reactor. Within the past few minutes the U.S Secretary of State John Kerry said such a move would be a provocative and serious move. He was speaking at a news conference with his South Korean counterpart. Earlier the U.N Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that North Korea was on a