http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/69910-print.shtml
The Herald, Glasgow, Scotland

The arms trade cannot be allowed to undermine peace
Desmond Tutu September 13 2006
 
For many years, I've been involved in the peace business, doing what I can to help people overcome their differences. In doing so, I've also learned a lot about the business of war: the arms trade.

In my opinion it is the modern slave trade. It is an industry out of control: every day more than 1000 people are killed by conventional weapons. The vast majority of those people are innocent men, women and children.

There have been international treaties to control the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons for decades. Yet, despite the mounting death toll, there is still no treaty governing sales of all conventional weapons, from handguns to attack helicopters.

As a result, weapons fall into the wrong hands all too easily, fuelling human rights abuses, prolonging wars and digging countries deeper into poverty. This is allowed to continue because of the complicity of governments, especially rich countries' governments, who turn a blind eye to the appalling human suffering associated with the proliferation of weapons.

It is estimated that every year small arms alone kill more people than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki put together. You only need to pick up a newspaper to see the worldwide scale of the problem. From the conflict in the Middle East, to the killings in Darfur, to gun violence in Brazil, the lack of global controls on the arms trade is causing the suffering of innocent people.

Take the Democratic Republic of Congo, where armed violence recently flared up again, and millions have died during almost a decade of conflict. Despite a UN arms embargo against armed groups in the country, weapons have continued to flood in from all over the world.

Arms found during weapons collections include those made in Germany, France, Israel, the US and Russia. The only common denominator is that nearly all these weapons were manufactured outside Africa.

Five rich countries manufacture the vast majority of the world's weapons. In 2005, Russia, the US, France, Germany and the UK accounted for an estimated 82% of the global arms market. And it's big business: the amount that rich countries spend on fighting HIV/Aids every year represents just 18 days' global spending on arms.

In addition to the deaths, injuries and rapes perpetrated with these weapons, the cost of conflict goes deeper still, destroying health and education systems. For example, in northern Uganda, which has been devastated by 20 years of armed conflict, it has been estimated that 250,000 children do not attend school. The war in northern Uganda, which may now be coming finally to an end, has been fuelled by supplies of foreign-made weapons. And, as with so many other wars, the heaviest toll has been on the region's children.

Children under five are always the most vulnerable to disease and, in a war zone, adequate medical care is often not available as hospitals are destroyed and people flee to makeshift camps. Last year, it was estimated that 41% of all deaths in the camps for displaced people in northern Uganda were among children under five.

The world could eradicate poverty in only a few generations were only a fraction of the expenditure on the war business to be spent on peace. An average of $22bn (£11.7bn) is spent on arms by countries in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa every year, according to estimates for the US Congress.

This year, the world has the chance to finally say "no" to the continuing scandal of the unregulated weapons trade. In October, the world's governments will vote on a resolution at the UN General Assembly to start working towards an Arms Trade Treaty. That Treaty would be based on a simple principle: no weapons for violations of international law. In other words, a ban on selling weapons if there is a clear risk that they will be used to abuse human rights or fuel conflict.

The UN resolution has been put forward by the governments of Australia, Argentina, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Kenya and the United Kingdom. These governments believe that "the idea of an Arms Trade Treaty is one whose time has come".

I agree. We must end impunity for governments who authorise the supply of weapons when they know there's a great danger that those weapons will be used for gross human rights abuses. Today, great strides are being made towards ending impunity for war criminals; it cannot be acceptable that their arms suppliers continue to escape punishment.

No longer should the peace business be undermined by the arms business. I call on all governments to put the control of the international arms trade at the top of their agenda.