Just three nations, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Iran and Syria, on Thursday scuttled hopes for the first international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at the United Nations by objecting to the draft.

However, almost immediately after it became clear the draft failed to reach consensus, Kenya, with the support of a host of nations, including the once recalcitrant the United States, said a draft resolution -- apparently based on the conference draft -- was being sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for him to refer to the UN General Assembly (GA) for action.

Since "there was no consensus ... the draft decision was not adopted," said Ambassador Peter Woolcott of Australia, president of the conference. "The result also casts a cloud over the UN capacity to achieve consensus results on such important matters."

"I share the feelings of many at the conclusion of this conference. This is a disappointing result for the conference which has seen delegations work long and hard to fulfill its mandate," he said.

"I believe the treaty text we have elaborated during this conference is strong on balance and would be effective if implemented it would make a difference," he added.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday expressed his "deep disappointment" with the failure to adopt the treaty.

"The secretary-general is deeply disappointed with the failure ... to reach a treaty text," a spokesman for Ban said in a statement.

"Given the importance of the issues involved, the secretary-general strongly hopes that member states will continue exploring ways to bring the treaty into being," the statement said, apparently encouraging the move to a GA vote.

Woolcott said that he is going to present a report on the outcome of the conference, as called for by a GA resolution of last December.

In July 2012, the conference failed to reach consensus because of a US objection.

Some analysts said Washington opposed the arms treaty draft at the time because US President Barak Obama, campaigning for re-election, feared the measure could be used against him in the race against Mitt Romney by gun enthusiasts.

The draft under consideration by the UN ATT conference has a right-to-bear arms clause, similar to one in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, in an apparent bid to head off opposition to the treaty's ratification by Congress.

If adopted by the UN General Assembly, the pact will need to be signed and ratified by at least 50 countries to enter into force.

Syria said it was not objecting to a treaty in principle but to a draft that was "inconclusive and incomplete" to be used "by only certain states in the future."

A series of caucuses were held while rules and procedures were considered after an Iran objections to procedure, further delaying closing of the conference and the president's report.

"A treaty will not emerge from this process, but the treaty is coming," Woolcott said in his closing remarks to the conference late Thursday night. "It is regrettable that all team efforts do not end in success."