Control Arms campaign.

Support is gradually building in the international campaign for an International Arms Trade Treaty (KIT) to control the transfers of weapons. Four governments--Costa Rica, Mali, Macedonia, and Cambodia--have publicly declared their support for the ATT so far, and Finland, Netherlands, Macedonia, and Slovenia have expressed a real interest. President Lula of Brazil said that he will "... undertake all efforts to build a network and create a positive balance in favour of arms control." (1) And this past May, Kenya's Foreign Affairs Minister, Kalonzo Musyoka, speaking during the official opening of a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) meeting in Nairobi, stressed that regional mechanisms of small arms control, such as the Nairobi Declaration for the Horn and Great Lakes regions of Africa, need to be supported by universal controls: "What remains now is a universal and binding commitment by the international community to strengthen the global efforts to control the proliferation of small arms and light weapons."

Project Ploughshares has been involved in efforts to encourage the Canadian government to support the AFT process, and will continue to do so as part of our arms control and small arms program.

The ATT effort is linked to the Control Arms campaign that was launched last October. (2) The campaign seeks to raise public awareness about the suffering and devastation caused by the rampant proliferation and misuse of small arms.

One element of this campaign is the "Million Faces Petition," which aims to collect one million (or more!) faces of people from around the world who support the campaign objectives. The images collected will be transferred to a banner that will be displayed at the next UN Meeting on Small Arms scheduled for the summer of 2006. To date, over 150,000 people have added their faces to the petition.

Campaign organizers, the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), have provided each country with target amounts to reach by 2006. The Canadian target is 10,000. So far, just over 1,300 Canadians have given their support so we have our work cut out for us!

Besides Ploughshares, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec, and Amnesty International are working on the Control Arms campaign. Through the Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee's Small Arms Working Group, Ploughshares is able to inform more than 100 organizations about the campaign and encourage them to support this initiative. The "Just Peace" campaign of Kairos: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives also includes a call on Canada to end all military transfers to human rights abusers and to support the Arms Trade Treaty proposal.

Currently, Project Ploughshares is developing educational materials and a program to facilitate church, local group, and individual involvement in the arms control and small arms program.

(1) Announcing Finland's support on Human Rights Day. Mr Erkki Tuomioja, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs said, " Now is the time to proceed in creating international rules for the arms trade ... Finland for its own part is ready to support the process towards an Arms Trade Treaty."

Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia, "As a country that has been severely affected by weapons, Cambodia will support the international Arms Trade Treaty. The Royal Government of Cambodia is committed to controlling weapons ... which have such a great impact on humanity, society, the economy and peace."

Atzo Nicolai, the Minister for European Affairs for the Netherlands, speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister, "The government strives for the realization of legally binding international agreements on export controls ... over small arms and light weapons."

Amadou Toumani Toure, President of Mall, a country that has been at the forefront of efforts to address the arms crises in west Africa," Mali is honoured to launch the Control Arms campaign and we fully support it. Mall will play its role in pushing for tougher international arms controls ... across the African continent."

(2) See "New campaign to control international transfers of arms," The Ploughshares Monitor, Winter 2003, pp. 6-8.