Arms kill more than half a million men, women, and children on average each year. Many thousands more are maimed, or tortured, or forced to flee their homes. The uncontrolled proliferation of arms fuels human rights violations, escalates conflicts, and intensifies poverty. To confront this crisis, Oxfam, Amnesty International, and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) have together launched an international campaign calling for effective arms controls to make people genuinely safer from the threat of armed violence. They are calling for local, national and international action and particularly urging governments to agree an Arms Trade Treaty by 2006 to prevent arms being exported to destinations where they are likely to be used to commit grave violations of international law.
