armes

The prospective new international Arms Trade Treaty must regulate the sale of parts and components being used to maintain or manufacture deadly weapons and military equipment, according to a new report by Oxfam.

Modern weapons and military equipment cannot be made or maintained without parts and components that are sourced and traded around the world.

The poorly regulated global trade in arms and ammunition weakens the ability and willingness of governments to sustain progress in development.

Global sales of ammunition are worth more than $4 billion and are growing at a faster rate than trade in guns, yet there is virtually no regulation in place to control where the bullets end up.

Guns are useless without bullets. An Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that does not control ammunition will not achieve its purposes.

According to new figures, more than $2.2 billion worth of arms and ammunition have been imported since 2000 by countries operating under arms embargoes.

More than $2.2 billion worth of arms and ammunition have been imported since 2000 by countries operating under arms embargoes, according to new figures released today by international humanitarian agency Oxfam.

Baffour Amoa, spokesperson for the Control Arms Coalition said:

Arms traffickers can too easily navigate the patchwork of national arms regulations, fuelling conflict while avoiding arrest and extradition, because of the lack of global regulation of the arms trade.

Arms traffickers can too easily navigate the patchwork of national arms regulations, fuelling conflict while avoiding arrest and extradition, because countries have been too weak or reluctant to pass an international arms trade treaty, says international agency Oxfam.