Amnesty urges treaty on arms sales

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Financial Times

Amnesty urges treaty on arms sales
By James Blitz in London

Published: September 17 2008 03:00 | Last updated: September 17 2008 03:00

The world's nations must urgently agree an international treaty regulating the trade in arms if they are to prevent more than 300,000 people being shot dead each year and millions more -suffering humanitarian abuses, Amnesty International says today.

In a report published ahead of a debate on the issue at the United Nations in a few weeks' time, Amnesty says the signing of an arms trade treaty is critical if the UN is to counter human rights abuses perpetrated in places such as Burma, the Darfur region of Sudan, Iraq and Colombia.

The report says 118 states have now publicly stated that transfers of conventional arms and small arms should be refused where there is a substantial risk they will contribute to human rights abuses or -violations of international humanitarian law. However, several of the world's leading arms exporters - including the US and Russia - have expressed opposition to signing such a treaty.

The UK, the world's second largest arms exporter according to Amnesty's figures, is backing approval of a treaty. But although the call for such a document is set to be debated by the UN general assembly next month, British officials say opposition to such a move means it will be years before such a treaty is approved.


Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/312cd570-8462-11dd-adc7-0000779fd18c.html

[tularetom]

1. Hey, it's all we got left

If it weren't for arms sales we'd have no balance of trade whatsoever. We don't make anything else that anybody wants.

[hack89]

4. Your ignorance of the US economy is showing

we don't make cheap consumer goods anymore but still make lots of high end, high tech machinery in addition to lots of other things:

Ever hear of Boeing? Caterpillar? GE? Dow Chemical?

http://www.nam.org/~/media/Files/State_Data/US_National_Data.ashx

[izquierdista]

6. GE is not a manufacturing company

While you weren't paying attention, they became a financial services company, just like AIG and Merrill Lynch.

[hack89]

7. Oh really?

GE jet engines ring a bell? GE appliances? GE light bulbs?

Here - educate yourself:

http://www.ge.com/products_services/index.html

[izquierdista]

8. Wake up!

Jet engine factories and light bulbs employ WORKERS. GE doesn't want to have workers; they want benefits and end up being pension liabilities. If Jack Welch did anything there, it was to get them out of manufacturing and into financial services. You need to educate yourself about the future and quit looking at what they once did.

[hack89]

9. Believe what you want to believe

I just think you are wrong.

[Nambe]

2. Closeout Sale!! on all weapons in case peacemaker Obama wins.

In my real world, the bomber and the bomb maker would be banished or bound.

[harmonicon]

3. Common sense!!

I've thought this for years. It just seems to make sense that one country should not export weapons to another country. It ought to be a total no-brainer.

I suppose there could be some sort of exceptions to allow things like the cooperation of forces in WWII; maybe a country would only be allowed to supply weapons to another country if that country were at war and the country supplying the weapons had also formally declared war on the opposing party.

[pipoman]

5. Far and away the most common small arm used in zones

known for massive human rights violations are AK-47 rifles. They are traded around the world because they are cheap, reliable and ammunition is available and cheap. These guns come (by the millions) from Asian and Eastern Bloc countries exclusively, they have never been manufactured in the US. Most (if not all) guns produced and exported by the US are used by foriegn law enforcement and military. They are simply too expensive to arm under funded, rouge forces.