A MILLION FACES AGAINST THE ARMS TRADE (Liz Lynne)

A MILLION FACES AGAINST THE ARMS TRADE

June 28, 2006 2:11 PM

Coinciding with the UN conference on small arms and light weapons (26 June to 7 July 2006), Liberal Democrat Human Rights spokeswoman in the European Parliament Liz Lynne MEP is supporting the Control Arms Campaign, organised by Amnesty International and others, as it presents a "million faces" petition to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The petition calls for much tighter control on the circulation and availability of small arms like handguns, rifles and sub-machine guns. The million faces symbolise the million people who have been killed by these weapons since the campaign began in 2003.

Commenting on the petition the West Midlands MEP said:

"We desperately need to regulate the small arms trade to prevent the thousands of deaths caused at the hands of warlords and criminal groups."

"The UK is currently one of the three largest exporters of arms in the world, but at present we lack a tough regulatory system over these arms exports and their brokers. The British parliament must in future be allowed to have more powers of scrutiny over the trade. The Labour government's insistence on secrecy is deplorable."

"The problem must also be tackled internationally, and the EU must take a leading role. This conference should be the first step towards a legally binding international arms trade treaty that not only controls arms sales but also gives technical assistance to states wanting to develop their own national laws to control the trade."

ENDS

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