Star Power and the UN - Bianca Jagger and arms control

[WhiteTara]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1871877,00.html

Bianca Jagger
Thursday September 14, 2006
The Guardian

As the UN general assembly opens this week, it has its best opportunity in years to make a life-saving difference to people all over the world. An opportunity to stop human rights abuses, limit the threat of terrorism, and reduce suffering for millions. The opportunity is a draft resolution for an international arms trade treaty that would place tough controls on sales.

The treaty would make it illegal to sell weapons to human rights abusers; make it harder for weapons to end up in the hands of criminals and terrorists; and help regulate a trade that is spiralling out of control - $900bn spent on defence versus only $60bn on aid. Every day over 1,000 people lose their lives through armed violence.
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Nicaragua, my birthplace, is still awash with weapons, the legacy of a bloody conflict - fuelled by the US arming the Contras - in which more than 40,000 civilians were killed. Nicaragua is now one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere.

For decades, the US provided millions of dollars in military aid to oppressive governments in Latin America; many of those countries now have high levels of armed violence. As a human rights campaigner, I have advocated on behalf of countless victims of conflict, from Latin America to the Balkans to the Middle East. I can attest to the devastating effect on the civilian population, particularly on women and children.
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More than 50 countries have voiced support for an arms trade treaty, but to make it happen we need a majority of the 192 member states. Today Britain hosts a meeting of diplomats to discuss tougher arms controls. For once the international community can act pre-emptively to prevent carnage, not be forced to mop up afterwards. It is an opportunity that the UN must seize.

· Bianca Jagger is goodwill ambassador for the Council of Europe
www.amnesty.org.uk/arms