| Global Week of Action Against Small Arms 2006 - action in SE Asia and Pacific
Australia
Press conference
Humanitarian organisations united to support international controls ion the arms trade at a press conference in Sydney on 30 May. Click here to read the press release.
Cambodia
Million Faces petition
Campaigners collected photos for the Million Faces petition on 28 May in preparation for the national delivery to the government in June. Click here to read more.
Fiji
Media Interview
Governments from the Pacific region must address the problem of small arms at the UN Review Conference, urged Ema Tagicakibau from the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre in an interview on 23 May.
PACIFIC: Small arms pose a unique threat to island-states
Radio Australia, 23 May
The Pacific Concerns Resource Centre has also urged soldiers to leave their guns behind when going on a walkabout as they are a permanent threat to peace and security in Fiji.
Japan
Control Arms concert
Musicians from DRC, Guinea, and Burundi delivered messages on the problems of guns at a concert on 28 May. Conflict in Africa and Control Arms were the main themes of this Amnesty International anniversary charity concert was organised by Amnesty Japan. Campaigners collected photos for the Million Faces petition and asked the audience to send a postcard to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to support the Arms Trade Treaty.
Papua New Guinea
Women's march
On 22 May, 500 women marched to the Autonomous Bougainville Parliament in protest against the re-arming of 30 ex-combatants to assist police in combating social problems and setting up of illegal road blocks in Central and South Bougainville. The women also called for the immediate removal of the soldiers who are illegally recruiting and training young Bougainvilleans to be in the illegal army.
Philippines:
South-east Asian campaigners call for regional action
Control Arms campaigners held a successful press conference in the Philippines, calling for tougher international arms controls. Click here for more information.
Lobby of parliamentarians
On 22 May, the Centre for Peace Education lobbied 287 parliamentarians to support the Control Arms campaign at the House of Representatives. They encouraged the parliamentarians to support Global Principles for arms transfers and to raise this issue in the national parliament to encourage the support pf the government. Twenty-four parliamentarians had their photograph taken for the Million Faces Petition.
Thailand
National Million Faces delivery
Following a roundtable meeting (29 May), the national Million Faces petition was delivered to the government on 1 June.
The petition was presented to the embassies of all ASEAN governments in Bangkok.
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