Tag: Arms Trade Treaty

This week marks the second anniversary of the start of the bloody Syrian civil war, which has killed an estimated 70,000 people, injured hundreds of thousands more and led to over a million people fleeing the country in fear. The UN Security Council has failed to impose an arms embargo on Syria. With only a […] Read more »

Dr. Robert Mtonga from Zambia shares his reflections on the need for a global arms trade treaty. Here are four scenarios that I have lived through that have motivated me to campaign for an Arms Trade Treaty to control the deadly trade in weapons. Picture a boy, aged 13 years and full of naivety; he […] Read more »

The countries of the world will sit down to vote overnight on who will become the newest non-permanent members of the Security Council. If Australia comes out a winner, it has the chance to play a key role in preventing conflict around the world, including in places where Australians are working directly on the ground, […] Read more »

Thanks to the support of hundreds of thousands of concerned people, after nearly ten years of campaigning, we came extremely close to agreement on a global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in July this year. It’s not over yet – an ATT is within reach. And today sees the next step forward in the campaign, as […] Read more »

With just one day left in the negotiations for a legally binding Arms Trade Treaty, Oxfam Australia along with Amnesty International, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and World Council of Churches encouraged the Australian Government to make one final push to ensure a strong and robust instrument. A draft text was presented […] Read more »

There are just two days to go in the negotiations for the world’s first legally binding instrument to control the international trade in conventional arms. While there are currently less international controls on the trade in arms than bananas, the draft text before the UN is riddled with loopholes and ambiguities that will continue to […] Read more »

The first draft of the Arms Trade Treaty has finally arrived. Unfortunately, while there were some points to celebrate, the text reflected the compromises and blocks which some sceptical countries have been arguing for since the conference began. It appears the treaty has been reduced from a humanitarian action to simply a regulatory document defined […] Read more »

In Papua New Guinea, the devastating effects of small arms are well known. Their use – and mere presence – has facilitated tribal wars, gender-based violence and directly impeded the ability of PNG to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. My organisation has witnessed what happens when arms are involved in these conflicts: death, destruction of […] Read more »

Just 9 days are left until the end of negotiations to produce the world’s first legally binding Arms Trade Treaty. Can we maintain pressure on governments to secure a strong Treaty that actually makes a difference? In “A Short Film About Guns” Oxfam’s Louis Belanger teams up with Greek-Cypriot director Minos Papas, providing a chilling […] Read more »

Iconic artwork by graffiti artist Banksy has come to life to support an Oxfam campaign to regulate the weapons trade which kills one person every minute. News photographer Nick Stern, who has seen first-hand the devastating effect of armed violence, has recreated two of the artists’ famous works using real life lookalikes in support of […] Read more »