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LONDON, October 9, 2003 (AP) - For farmers in Uganda, AK-47 assault rifles are used instead of spears. In Somalia, weapons are so common that some children are named "Uzi" or "AK." In countries such as Iraq, there is more than one gun per person.
These findings were included in a report released Thursday by Amnesty International, Oxfam and another group as they launched a campaign in more than 50 countries aimed at controlling what they call a dangerously unregulated global arms trade that routinely allows weapons to reach repressive governments, human rights abusers and criminals.
The report said the possession of increasingly lethal weapons is becoming an integral part of daily life in many parts of the world. It also said that the U.S.-led war on terror, launched after the Sept.
11, 2001, attacks in the United States, has "fueled weapons proliferation rather than focusing political will on controlling arms."
Increasing numbers of arms are being exported, especially by the United States and Britain, to newfound allies such as Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines, regardless of concerns about human rights abuses and widespread poverty there, the report said.
"Governments preoccupied with a search for nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in their fight against terrorism have essentially ignored the real weapons of mass destruction: small arms," said Rebecca Peters, director of the International Action Network on Small Arms group, which joined Amnesty and Oxfam in the initiative.
The "Control Arms" campaign — launched by the
three groups at news conferences around the world Thursday — focuses on
promoting a new international treaty covering arms transfers, as well as a
number of regional and local measures designed to limit arms proliferation
and misuse.
The groups began a petition drive aimed at gathering 1 million signatures
supporting their draft international Arms Trade Treaty, which they hope to
have adopted by the United Nations and its member countries by 2006.
As part of that campaign, the groups displayed 300 model gravestones in
Trafalgar Square in central London, each containing the slogan "one person
every minute killed by arms."
The report said more than 630 million small arms are in circulation around
the world, more than one for every 10 people, and that someone is killed
through armed violence every minute, or more than half a million people a
year.
The report said existing national arms export controls are riddled with
loopholes. The result is the easy availability of arms, which increases the
incidence of armed violence, acts as a trigger for conflicts, and prolongs
wars once they break out. Increasingly, civilians are being targeted in such
attacks, the groups said.
Such conflicts and armed crime also often prevent international relief aid
from reaching those who desperately need it, said the report.
"The arms trade is out of control," said Barbara Stocking, the director of
Oxfam. "It is a global problem with horrific local consequences, and it is
poor people who suffer most."
She said an international arms trade treaty is needed to stop the flow of
arms to abusers and to help make the world safer. The groups also urged
governments to control national arms exports, brokers and dealers.
The draft Arms Trade Treaty was developed by the three groups and other
human rights and arms control organizations working with international legal
experts, the report said. The central aim is to provide a set of common
minimum standards for the control of arms transfers, based firmly on a
state's existing responsibilities under international law.
The groups urged Britain — which they called the world's second largest arms
exporter after the United States — to lead the way in supporting the
proposed treaty.
British Foreign Officer Minister Mike O'Brien said Britain has been at the
forefront of international arms control efforts and has a tough export
control system itself. But he praised the report about the misuse of small
arms and light weapons around the world, and he said such an international
treaty would be a worthwhile goal.
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