Demand a Bullet-Proof Arms Trade Treaty
Most governments continue to permit the irresponsible trade in weapons, munitions and other military and policing equipment, inflicting misery and carnage on people in many countries.
Every year hundreds of thousands of people are killed, injured, raped and forced to flee their homes as a result of armed violence. Amnesty International's research shows that the majority of grave human rights abuses are committed using small arms, light weapons and other military and policing equipment.
To protect human rights, governments must prevent easy access to arms, and strictly regulate their lawful uses. Armed forces and police are too often poorly trained and unaccountable when measured by international human rights standards. Opposition groups, vigilantes, criminal gangs and civilians can also easily access and misuse arms, sometimes on a massive scale. Surplus and unlawful arms need to be removed and destroyed. And new supplies must urgently be restricted. In order to help stop irresponsible arms transfers globally, Amnesty International has called for a global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that would establish strict rules for the international transfer of arms, and hold irresponsible arms suppliers and dealers to account.
A "golden rule" is desperately needed in an ATT that would require governments to stop an arms transfer when there is a substantial risk that the arms are likely to be used for serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
Amnesty has worked tirelessly to gather the support of its millions-strong global human rights movement. Popular mobilization coupled with smart advocacy in over 100 countries has resulted in increasingly large historic votes at the UN General Assembly in favor of developing a "strong and robust" ATT.
But what kind of Arms Trade Treaty will they agree upon? Formal deliberations and negotiations on the treaty text started in July 2010 and will lead to a UN conference in 2012. Will the treaty cover all types of arms transfers and contain a "golden rule"? Or will supportive governments surrender to the few skeptical powers which have opposed the treaty and who now seek to include major loopholes in the treaty?
You can join Amnesty International in demanding a strong and robust ATT that will have proper rules to really help save lives, protect livelihoods and prevent further grave abuses of human rights.
