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campaign

Last year three organisations (Amnesty International, Oxfam and IANSA -International Action Network on Small Arms) launched the global Control Arms campaign. It calls for a legally binding, International Arms Trade Treaty to help stop weapons being sold to human rights abusers, criminals and conflict zones.

The campaign has since gathered support from hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The political leaders of Brazil, Cambodia, Mali, Macedonia, Costa Rica, Finland and the Netherlands have already indicated potential support for an international Arms Trade Treaty.

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:
"We will not stop until all countries see sense - that there is a desperate need for a legally-binding treaty that stops weapons being sold to people who persecute, torture and massacre."

Justin Forsyth, Oxfam Policy Director, said:
"People we work with whose lives have been ruined by the unregulated trade in weapons will at last be able to see light at the end of the tunnel. The UK, the second largest exporter of weapons, can play a vital role in keeping weapons out of the wrong hands and making people safe from armed violence. It must now show global leadership and help make this treaty a reality."

Rebecca Peters, Director of IANSA said:
"This progress is fantastic news for people who live in fear of armed violence across the world. After decades of arms proliferation, governments are beginning to listen to their citizens' demands for change."

Pax Christi and CAAT (Campaign Against Arms Trade) are other two organisations calling for an end to unlawful arms exports which breed corruption. They claim that the government subsidises arms export companies - to a total of around £760m per year, or £30 per taxpayer! They believe that it is in the power of governments to help companies involved in the arms trade to favour a process of conversion from military industry to civil production.

In fact, those who support the arms trade believe the fairytale that it creates a good number of jobs: family units will no longer be able to make a living, if the sale of arms should come to an end. In reality there are only 90,0000 people employed by the arms trade that is about 0.3% of the workforce. Their number is falling as companies are moving production lines overseas.