Politicians from all parties are united in their support for an effective global arms trade treaty as fifty five Irish Politicians sign Parliamentary Declaration in support of a comprehensive arms treaty last week.
To date over 1,600 parliamentarians across the world have also signed this Declaration. These signatures will be handed over to the United Nations this October.
Noeleen Hartigan, Programmes Director, Amnesty International Irish Section thanked all members of the Dail who supported this call for a global arms trade treaty in a recent statement. “We want to thank these public representatives for their support. We call on the remaining TDs, Senators and MEPs to add their voice to the campaign”.
Amnesty International’s arms control manager Brian Wood also commented on the current arms situation, “Despite the massive green light from most of the world community, a small minority of sceptics want to keep the shambolic status quo so they can turn a blind eye to blatantly irresponsible arms transfers, rendering most national arms controls and UN arms embargoes weak and ineffective,” said Mr Wood.
“The absence of a common binding standard on international trade in weapons has resulted in the widespread abuse of human rights. The Irish Government has to date been a strong advocate for a comprehensive arms trade treaty. In the face of opposition from powerful states like the USA, China, India and Russia, Ireland must support the use of a human rights criterion as the basis for negotiations for an universal Arms Trade Treaty,” said Noeleen Hartigan.
“The time for an Arms Trade Treaty is now. Sixty years after the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the same governments can and should deliver an effective agreement on international arms transfers with human rights at its heart,” concluded Ms Hartigan.
A report published by Amnesty International entitled “Blood on the Crossroads” is helping to highlight the current arms trade effects. Amnesty say the report is the first of a kind because it makes the case for a global arms trade treaty by examining the parameters and scope of the universal Arms Trade Treaty utilising nine detailed case studies.
Conflict areas examined in the case studies vary from the current conflict in Darfur, the military crackdowns in Myanmar and Guinea to the on-going violence in Iraq. According to Amnesty “The report shows how and why the current variation and loopholes in national arms legislation allows massive violations of human rights to occur. The report demonstrates that without an effective human rights provision, a global Arms Trade Treaty could fail to protect those most vulnerable.”
Some of the key findings from the report were:
“China and Russia remain the largest suppliers of conventional arms to Sudan which are used for serious on-going human rights violations by the Sudanese armed forces in Darfur. Russia supplied military helicopters and bomber aircraft, while China sold Sudan most of its arms and ammunition.”
"In Myanmar, despite the persistent pattern of well documented human rights violations committed by Myanmar government forces, China, Serbia, Russia and the Ukraine have between them supplied armoured personal carriers, trucks, weapons and munitions."
"In Iraq, the US Department of Defence has funded most of the supply of over one million rifles, pistols and infantry weapons for 531,000 Iraqi security force personnel in a poorly managed and unaccountable process since 2003. This supply has compounded the massive proliferation of arms and gross human rights abuses, which began under the former Saddam government. The new supplies have sometimes involved dubious players in international supply chains and a basic lack of accountability by the Iraq, US and the UK governments, leading to diversions of supplies to armed groups and illicit markets. "
