Featured Action of the Week: Control Conventional Arms

by Michael Bear · 2009-06-20 18:26:00 UTC
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Have been thinking recently about chronic conflict - why certain countries and regions seem trapped in unending violence.  (Hello, Somalia.  And here's looking at you, eastern Congo.) While no conflict is reducible to a simple, rote set of causes, the easy availability of small arms certainly doesn't help.

To that end, Oxfam, Amnesty and the International Action Network on Small Arms have set up the Control Arms Campaign, urging the United States to support an effective international Arms Trade Treaty.

The Control Arms blog explains why such a treaty is necessary:

"Armed conflict and natural disasters in Central and East Africa have caused more than 11 million people to flee from their homes, according to UN agency OCHA. These armed conflicts are fuelled by weapons and ammunition from around the world and supplied through intermediaries in Africa.

...

Daily abuses against civilians, including widespread killings, rapes and other serious human rights violations continue in Central and East Africa. Despite the UN arms embargo on the DRC, the situation is being exacerbated by the uncontrolled diversion and misuse of weapons and ammunition by the regular army, the police, and armed groups."

According to one of the campaign organizers: "The biggest arms exporter in the world, the US has been one of the main obstacles to fast progress in the UN process towards an effective arms trade treaty."

You can add your voice to the campaign by signing this petition.

Michael Bear
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