'India must lead in supporting tougher arms control'

New Delhi, Mar 16: With just 100 days remaining for the second UN Arms Review Conference, campaigners today (Mar 16, 2006) strongly urged the Government to support the Arms Trade Treaty at the meet and take a lead in getting world leaders to agree on tougher arms control and transfer.

As part of a global campaign, representatives of the Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI), Oxfam and Amnesty International appealed to the government to regulate irresponsible transfer of arms and support the treaty in June in New York.

With an estimated 500,000 people being killed in armed violence across the world every year, the representatives said they were not seeking a ban but a regulation on weapons so that they did not fall in ''wrong hands''.

''Uncontrolled and irresponsible transfer of arms between nations could be stemmed if strong governments like India took the lead to push for the global treaty.'' Oxfam Policy and Campaigns Coordinator in New Delhi Ben Phillips said.

Worldwide, 80 to 90 per cent of legally traded arms end up in illegal hands and India can push for treaty that can mitigate suffering and poverty around the world, he said, pointing out that every minute a person was killed in armed violence and 15 new weapons made.

Nearly 60 per cent of small arms and lights weapons are in civilian hands and the annual value of legal international arms trade is billion.

''India, being a democracy and an emerging power, must protect its citizens as there is a high inflow of weapons across porous borders. An unstable India will mean an unstable south Asia,'' Mr Phillips said.

The treaty aims at providing a set of common minimum standards for the control of arms transfers. It is based firmly on existing responsibilities of member-states under various international conventions and law.

Former Navy Chief and Magsaysay award for Peace and International Understanding Admiral (Retd) L Ramdas said India as an emerging power should shoulder its responsibility. ''It is always the poor, impoverished and the innocent people who are victims of the armed violence and they must be protected,'' the Admiral said pointing out that till 2020 the number of people being killed in wars and conflicts will exceed that of people dying of diseases like malaria or measles.

''As someone who has served in the Indian Navy and around the world, I have seen the human cost of conflict and instability fuelled by uncontrolled arms sales,'' he said.

Clarifying that the treaty will not restrict supply of weapons and the Army or police, Admiral Ramdas said it will benefit India to save lives as transfer of arms will be more transparent.

He said there are around 639 million small arms and light weapons in the world today and around 8 million more were produced every year.

Expressing the hope that the treaty will be gender sensitive, CAFI Vice President Anuradha Chenoy said women suffered disproportionately in an armed conflict.

''There are tougher regulations in the music industry than in transfer of arms... Women seldom are buyers, owners or users of firearms but are at a high risk of armed violence not only outside their homes but within their homes as well,'' she said.

Five permanent members of the UN Security Council--the US, UK, France, China and Russia -- together account for 88 per cent of the world's conventional arms exports.

A draft treaty has been pulled together by 19 Nobel laureates and is being championed by legal experts and NGOs like Oxfam, Amnesty and International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), a global network of over 700 civil society organisations.

Since the Control Arms Campaign began in October 2003, the ATT has got support from over 45 nations, including from Africa, Asia, Europe and America.

Several eminent individuals and celebrities from across the world have also endorsed the need for regulation of arms transfer in several ways.

A public ''letter to the editor'', has been signed by Mary Robinson (former UNHCR head), Oscar Arias (Nobel laureate), Romeo Dellaire (former head of UN forces in Rwanda), Arundhati Roy (writer), Dr Najma Heptullah (Hon President, Inter-Parliamentarian Union) and Prof M G K Menon (scientist and policy maker).

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, actress Nandita Das and singer Rabbi Shergill have ''given their face'' to the campaign by joining the 'Million Faces' public appeal where ordinary people are posting their photo and name on the campaign website as their mark of support.

UNI