standup.comboniyouth.org.uk

Dear reader, in the last issue we reflected upon unfair trade in the world (raw materials being shipped from the South of the world to our affluent society). This time we focus on another unfair business, which trades arms into war-torn regions - arms originating from factories that might well be located even in your neighbourhood. Every year, hundreds of thousands of innocent victims die as a result of the misuse of conventional weapons, particularly small arms and light weapons.

And Peace on Earth…

The Romans used to say: "if you want peace, prepare for war". Fortress Europe is doing precisely that, becoming increasingly militarised through its armaments policy, its arms industry, the privatisation of military services, and the military influence on science, engineering and technology. EU military strategy operations and policies affect the global South. While EU Member States have certainly made progress over the last years in strengthening their arms export controls, weapons originating in the EU still find their way into the hands of human rights' violators and those abusing humanitarian law.

What can we do, as Christians called to be peacemakers, to counter the grim reality that as a nation we are sowing the seeds of war around the world by exporting so many arms? Conventional arms kill hundreds of thousands of people every year. Today around 90% of casualties are among innocent civilians and half of that number are children. About 2,000 children are killed or injured in armed conflicts every day. Some 300,000 children are fighting soldiers in armed conflicts.

Tragically, in Northern Uganda, the Lord's resistance Army kidnaps children from villages and schools. The girls 'serve' the fighters and boys as young as 10 and 12 are taught to kill people. Comboni missionaries are there to pay the price like Fr. Raffaele Di Bari who was ambushed, his car and body set on fire, as he was continuously trying to rescue and rehabilitate child soldiers.

There are 639 million small arms in the world, or one for every ten people, produced by over 1,000 companies in at least 98 countries. The arms trade is out of control. There are currently almost no legally binding international arms export controls in existence. How can we control the deadly trade in arms that takes thousands of lives every year?