The Case for Global Guidelines

Child soldiers from Uganda. © AP

"We had the impression that the soldiers were not fighting each other, but rather the civilian population. Missiles were launched haphazardly, without any thought to civilians."
-- UN officer, interviewed by Amnesty International, talking about militia battles in the Ituri region of north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (May 2003).

The international trade in small arms and light weapons (SALW) is dangerously out of control. Irresponsible, yet legal, transfers of arms such as assault rifles and shoulder-fired missiles continue to fuel human rights abuses and are a proven catalyst for initiating conflict and prolonging wars once they break out. Find out more about how strict global guidelines could help curb troubling small arms and light weapons transfers.
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Q & A
Briefing paper

About Global Guidelines

On April 21, 2006, representatives from the governments of Kenya, Austria (representing the EU), Canada, Costa Rica, Finland, Mali, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Thailand and the UK developed draft guidelines on the international transfer of SALW to be added to the UN Program of Action to combat the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
Click here to read these proposed guidelines
Read the global guidelines as proposed by the Control Arms Campaign

U.S. Action on Global Guidelines

In January 2006, US Senators wrote to the Secretary of State to encourage the US government's support for adding strong global guidelines to the United Nations Program of Action on the trade of SALW. Read the letter from U.S. Senators to Condoleeza Rice (PDF). Read the letter to Condoleeza Rice signed by 72 Representatives in June on the same issue (PDF).

AI/Control Arms Reports

Dead on time – arms transportation, arms brokering and the threat to human rights
Strengthening Compliance with UN Arms Embargoes
Democratic Republic of Congo: arming the East
Sudan: Arming the perpetrators of grave abuses in Darfur
Sustaining conflict and human rights abuses - the flow of arms accelerates (China)
General Kalachnikov Joins Calls for Tougher Arms Controls

Related Reports

Small Arms Working Group Fact Sheet: Consequences of the Proliferation and Misuse of small arms and Light Weapons