arms

Since the start of the conflict, nearly 25,000 additional people are going hungry each day in Yemen as the blockade and fighting restrict food, fuel and other vital supplies, Oxfam warned today.

Seven more states will ratify the Arms Trade Treaty today – bringing the overall total  to over 50 and triggering the countdown to entry into force.

The international response to Syria is failing on three fronts – insufficient aid, meager resettlement offers and continued arms transfers – Oxfam warns in a report published today.

Sending more arms to Syria will only increase the bloodshed, says Oxfam

In reaction to 62 states signing the Arms Trade Treaty today at the United Nations in New York, Anna Macdonald, Head of Arms Control, Oxfam said:

The Viktor Bout case shows need for global rules on arms trading – a global arms trade treaty.

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.

The Control Arms alliance expressed some satisfaction at progress made at the preliminary Arms Trade Treaty negotiations but urged governments to maximize time before the next meeting in 2011 to develop a draft Treaty further.