WITHIN DAYS, OUR WORLD COULD CHANGE.
AN ARmS TRADE TREATY COULD CHANGE OUR WORLD. Right now, there are no global standards to properly regulate the international arms trade. As a result, serious human rights abuses are committed daily. Amnesty International research shows that 60% of human rights violations involve the use of small arms and light weapons. Because of these, millions of men, women and children have been killed, tortured, raped or forced to flee from their homes because of a poorly regulated arms trade. Thanks to supporters like you by our side, and after a 20-year campaign, we’re just days away from achieving an Arms Trade Treaty that will help stop weapons reaching dictators, torturers and rapists. If finalised by the world’s governments during the UN General Assembly March 18 - 28, and then ratified by enough states, an Arms Trade Treaty with international standards to regulate arms trading will save many lives and enable people to live without fear. Your donation towards an Arms Trade Treaty could change our world.
Pictured front: People line up for food in Chota Lahore refugee camp, where armed conflict has forced three million people from their homes. Pictured left: Police officers charge towards an unarmed garment worker protesting in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
WITHOUT A GUN, A CHILD SOLDIER CAN BE A CHILD. “I was playing football with other boys. Government soldiers came up saying rebels were coming. They picked up 24 of us and we were tied and put in a truck. I was taught to shoot an AK-47. I fired it but I’m not sure if I hit anyone. Some of my friends went to fight; some were wounded and some died. I just want to go back to school.” David,* 12 years old, Gbarnga, Bong County, Liberia. An Arms Trade Treaty will prevent unregulated arms and munitions reaching countries like Liberia, which have devastating records of exploiting children in armed conflicts. Currently there are tens of thousands of children recruited as child soldiers, who are being killed, maimed, sexually exploited, deprived of education, health care and left with deep emotional scars and trauma. Your donation towards an Arms Trade Treaty will help children have a childhood.
Pictured left: A child with teddy bear backpack points an AK-47 in monrovia, Liberia. *Name changed to protect identity.
A WOmAN WITHOUT A WEAPON TO HER HEAD CAN fEEL SAfER. “The night before my wedding, around midnight, the military burst in. They forced us to undress, and savagely beat us. They raped my mother, my two younger sisters and me, in the presence of my helpless father and brothers. We were kept as slaves for four months. Afterwards, my fiancé rejected me and no-one would help us, because as raped women we are regarded as being cursed.” Reine,* rape victim, Democratic Republic of Congo. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) approximately 1,100 rapes are reported each month, with around 36 women and girls raped every day since armed conflict began in 1998. An Arms Trade Treaty will help prevent arms reaching human rights abusers in the DRC. Your donation towards an Arms Trade Treaty will help women at threat of rape at gunpoint. Pictured left: A Congolese woman returns home after being exiled in Tanzania. Women in the DRC are often forced to leave home to escape acts of violence in armed conflict. *Name changed to protect identity.
WITHOUT A SUPPLY Of ARmS, A DICTATOR IS POWERLESS. “The interrogator asked me if I was married. I said I wasn’t, so he said he was going to cut off my male organ. He beat me hard until I fainted. I regained consciousness after water was splashed onto me, and he applied an electric shock to my testicles. It was so terrible I cannot describe it.” Mahmoud,* held at a military security detention facility in Homs, Syria. Most of Syria’s weapons have been supplied by Russia. As human rights abuses escalate, Russia continues to export weapons while at the same time blocking the UN Security Council from taking decisive action to end the conflict. Imagine how different it would be if Syrian government forces and other armed groups were never sold guns in the first place. A robust Arms Trade Treaty will help prevent warlords and human rights abusers from committing atrocities. Your donation towards an Arms Trade Treaty will help to defend men, women and children against violent dictators.
Pictured left: A man shouts slogans during a demonstration against the Syrian government in front of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 23, 2011. *Name changed to protect identity. AFP Photo/Jewel Samad.
mARCH 18TH 2013. AN ARmS TRADE TREATY IS POSSIBLE. It’s taken a long time. A lot of energy, campaigning and fighting. And the battle’s not over. Your support is so valuable to us and we need your financial support at this time to help us make the Arms Trade Treaty a reality. Soon, all the world governments will meet. They’ll decide whether to put human rights at the core of the treaty and prevent arms going to countries where they are used to torture, kill, rape, intimidate and repress. Countries like Syria, Egypt, Sri Lanka and Burma produce very few of their own arms. They depend on countries like the ‘Permanent 5’ members of the UN Security Council - USA, Russia, China, France, and the UK to supply them with weapons. We need to pressure influential governments like the ‘Permanent 5’ to back an Arms Trade Treaty with human rights protection. Your donation towards an Arms Trade Treaty will help us make it a reality and change our world. Pictured right: A girl stands next to a demolished house near where 108 Syrian civilians including 49 children were massacred. Pictured back: Somali children look in horror at the ammunition belt of a Transitional federal Government soldier on patrol in Kismayu.
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