Stay on Target: Will the UK fight the battle for tough arms controls?

Overview

July 2012 sees the greatest opportunity ever to regulate the global arms trade, as states gather in New York to negotiate an international Arms Trade Treaty. The UK has been crucial in making this happen. Since 2004, it has championed a Treaty that will have a genuine impact on humanitarian and human rights. A strong Arms Trade Treaty will be a triumph for UK diplomacy. In this paper, the Control Arms UK group of NGOs (comprising Oxfam, Amnesty International, Transparency International UK, Article 36, and Saferworld) calls on the UK Government to hold out for a robust Treaty that most of the world wants. Not the watered-down alternative that Syria, Iran and a handful of other governments would prefer.