DVT Coursework 2

Please wait a few seconds while the content loads...

It is estimated that 80-90% of all illegal small arms start in state sanctioned trade

Uncontrolled Arms fuel poverty and suffering

The global misuse of arms has reached crisis point.

The time to act is now; face up to the arms crisis!

According to Joshua Katta, a Pokot chief in Kolowa Kenya, in 1967 weapons were the old and heavy Lee-Enfield mark IV guns of WW1 vintage and their price was heavier still � 60 cows apiece. By 1986, the price was down to 15 cows and the rifles were the more lethal AK47. By 2001, they cost only 5, or even 4, head of cattle each

There are around 639 million small arms and light weapons in the world today.

Without strict control, such weapons will continue to fuel violent conflict, state repression, crime, and domestic abuse.

Unless governments act to stop the spread of arms, more lives will be lost, more human rights violations will take place, and more people will be denied the chance to escape poverty.

So who profits most from this murderous trade? The five permanent members of the UN Security Council � the USA, UK, France, Russia, and China. Together, they are responsible for eighty eight per cent of reported conventional arms exports.

The international community must adopt a global Arms Trade Treaty in time for the next UN arms conference in 2006.

A global Arms Trade Treaty is desperately needed now.

It would create legally binding arms controls and ensure that all governments control arms to the same basic international standards.

Today, arms are so prevalent, for example it is estimated that there is one gun for every 10 people on the planet � men, women, and children. .

Use the buttons below to veiw more facts

Be part of the solition.

Stop the injustice

By 2020, the number of deaths and injuries from war and violence will overtake the numbers of deaths caused by killer diseases such as malaria and measles.

Navigation | Control arms website | the million faces