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| Highlights of the UN First Committee, 2008 |
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Strong ATT would support arms embargoes, say military leaders
Senior military leaders, experienced in some of the world's worst conflict zones, spoke in favour of a strong Arms Trade Treaty on 23 October.
Brigadier Mujahid Alam from Pakistan, who is from the UN Peacekeeping Mission in DR Congo, Lt Colonel John Ochai from Nigeria, who is former Chief of Operations for the African Union Mission in Sudan, and Bruno Schiemsky, from Belgium, who is formerly of the UN Arms Embargo panel on Somalia. They were joinedby Brian Wood (Amnesty International),consultant to the 2007 UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Arms Brokering.
Click here to read what they said.
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Campaigners race to 192 UN Missions in 192 minutes
Control Arms campaigners raced to the Missions of all 192 UN Member States on 21 October. They hand-delivered a video message of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu urging States to support the resolution on an Arms Trade Treaty. |
The world is watching, say parliamentarians
Ambassador Marco Antonio Suazo Fernández, Chair of the First Committee, receives the 'World is Watching' compilation of parliamentarians endorsements from parlamentarians Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel ( Philippines), Ibrahim Toure (Mali) and Gagan Thapa (Nepal). Over 2000 parliamentarians in 124 countries endorsed the Parliamentarian's Declaration Supporting an ATT. The compilation of endorsements was delivered to the Chair of First Committee on 20 October.
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Doctors speak out for an ATT
A panel of four health experts chaired by Dr. Diego Zavala of Amnesty US presented a session on the impact of arms transfers on public health (13 October).
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Video diaries from campaigners
A substantial team of civil society advocates were present at the UN during First Committee representing the Control Arms campaign. Some of them provided video reports on their activities:
Anna Macdonald, Oxfam International
Sauro Scarpelli, Amnesty International
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Sudanese refugee at launch report on armed violence and MDGs
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are being undermined by irresponsible arms transfers, according to a report launched by Oxfam at the First Committee on 8 October. The MDGs are poverty-reduction targets that all UN Member States have agreed to achieve by 2015. Valentino Deng, a former Sudanese refugee, was one of the guest speakers at the launch. Valentino had walked many kilometres as a child trying to escape conflict in his home area. |
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