As part of the Control Arms campaign Oxfam is calling for a global Arms Trade Treaty – an agreement between the world’s governments that could ensure much tighter controls on the trade of weapons, and help to protect civilians from armed violence.

Tighter arms controls are central to Oxfam’s main aim of overcoming poverty and suffering.
Guns fuel violence, corruption, and threaten thousands of lives every day. They cause fear and suffering. And poverty. The reality is that millions of people are trapped in poverty because the arms trade is totally out of control. That’s why it matters to us. That’s why we need your support.

Seven governments (Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Kenya and the United Kingdom) have recently issued a draft proposal to achieve an Arms Trade Treaty at the United Nations meeting in October this year.

“Governments have now put on the record their desire to reduce the unrestrained spread of weapons which fuel violent conflicts; they must now make sure that progress towards an Arms Trade Treaty is speedy so no more lives are lost,” said Anna McDonald, Oxfam’s Control Arms Campaign Director.

However, we are concerned that the draft does not mention human rights – a future arms trade treaty not based on human rights law would not stop weapons getting into the hands of the worst abusers. The document also states that the process of developing a treaty must start no later than 2008. But there must be progress before then to prevent further loss of life.

One thousand people die everyday as a result of armed violence. Speedy action must be taken to reduce this appalling death toll. We need your support, to send a powerful, global message to the UK government in support of tough arms controls.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_you_can_do/campaign/controlarms/actions/att_uk.php?ito=2471&itc=0

Takes a few minutes of your time to read and even less to fill out your details and hit send!

Apologies if this has been posted before.