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| UK speaks out for arms trade treaty |
Jack Straw visiting Baghdad in November 2003 |
The UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, recently announced British government support for a strong international treaty to control the deadly trade in arms. Click here to read the speech. Straw stated that the treaty should cover arms brokering and that it should include a monitoring and evaluation mechanism.
This follows an important recent initiative in Spain. The Spanish parliament passed a motion urging the government to promote the values of the Arms Trade Treaty, as called for by the Control Arms campaign.
During his speech, Straw announced that the treaty would be put on the agenda of the G8 Foreign Ministers meeting in June. Since the G8 countries are responsible for two-thirds of the global arms trade and at least two-thirds of global gun exports, this will be a significant step forward in promoting the treaty.
An arms trade treaty was also one of the recommendations of the Commission for Africa report, (section 2.5) which will be discussed by the G8 heads of state at the Gleneagles summit 6-8 July.
Click here for the reaction of the Control Arms campaign. Click here for the reaction of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (a British IANSA member).
Support the Control Arms campaign. Click here to join the Million Faces Petition |
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