Today, millions of people around the world are living in fear of armed violence. They have good reason to be afraid. Most victims of armed violence are not uniformed soldiers, nor even fighters, but ordinary men, women and children.

And from the slums of Rio to the bloody conflict in the Congo, the most common weapon used to kill, maim, rape and terrorize innocent people is the gun.

Yet, unlike weapons of mass destruction, the proliferation of guns, and other conventional arms, is dangerously unregulated.

The right of countries to national defense is clear. But countries also have a responsibility to make sure that arms they buy or sell are not used to commit human rights abuses or to undermine development.

In 2006, the world can make the first step towards bringing the arms trade under control, by starting negotiations on an international Arms Trade Treaty.

This treaty would ban all arms sales where there is a clear risk that those weapons will be used to break international law.

What we are calling for is not revolutionary. It simply consolidates countries' existing and emerging obligations under international law into a universal standard for arms sales. But it has the power to save hundreds of thousands of lives around the world. Over 45 countries have already given their support.

In 100 days time, UN member states will meet in New York for the second world conference on small arms. We call on the Somalia government to champion global controls on the small arms trade at that meeting.

If this is achieved, negotiations on an Arms Trade Treaty could start later this year. If it is not, irresponsible arms sales will continue to fuel suffering and poverty around the world.

Yours sincerely

Mary Robinson (Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights)
Jody Williams (Nobel Peace Laureate)
Lt. General Romeo Dallaire (Former Commander of UN Forces in Rwanda)
Dr Oscar Arias (Nobel Peace Laureate)
The Albert Schweitzer Institute (Nobel Peace Laureate)
Arundhati Roy (Author and Activist)
Abukar Albadri, Peace Activist and IANSA-Somalia coordinator

To sign the petition for an Arms Trade Treaty, go to www.controlarms.org

ENDS

ARMS TRAFFICKERS ENJOY IMPUNITY AS ALL UN ARMS EMBARGOES IN LAST DECADE ‘SYSTEMATICALLY VIOLATED’

Embargoed until 00.01 GMT on Thursday 16 March, 2006


Report from the Control Arms Campaign: Oxfam International, Amnesty International and International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA).

UN arms embargoes are systematically violated and must be urgently strengthened if they are to stop weapons fuelling human rights abuses, according to a report being presented to the UN Security Council today (Thursday).

According to the Control Arms Campaign every one of the 13 UN arms embargoes imposed in the last decade has been repeatedly violated. And despite hundreds of embargo breakers being named in UN reports, only a handful have been successfully prosecuted.

“Over the past ten years systematic violations of United Nations arms embargoes have met with almost no successful prosecutions. Unscrupulous arms dealers continue to get away with grave human rights abuses and make a mockery of the UN Security Council’s efforts, “said Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

Control Arms campaigners will today appeal to the UN Security Council for states to strengthen the enforcement of UN embargoes. They will argue for a raft of new measures, including the urgent agreement of an International Arms Trade Treaty.

This Treaty would enable governments to act in unison to strictly control conventional arms transfers, thereby creating the conditions for UN arms embargoes to be properly respected. Since the Campaign began in October 2003, over 45 countries have stated their support for such a treaty.

According to the report:
• UN investigative teams tasked with monitoring the embargoes are given woefully inadequate resources and time.

• Despite UN mandatory arms embargoes being legally binding under international law, many states have not even made violating an embargo a criminal offence.

• Arms export, import and freight documents are routinely faked and state officials often cover up arms transfers.

• UN peacekeepers are sometimes not trained to adequately record markings on weapons, while UN missions do not have adequate means to monitor ports of entry in embargoed zones.

“Illegal arms dealers are getting away with murder on a daily basis. Embargoes must be strengthened but even then they will remain a blunt instrument. They are often imposed by the UN Security Council on the basis of politics rather than principles and are usually deployed too late to save lives. The world urgently needs an Arms Trade Treaty if we’re to stop weapons getting into the wrong hands,” said Barbara Stocking, Oxfam’s Director.

According to campaigners, between 1990 and 2001 only 8 of 57 conflicts had UN arms embargoes imposed. Even when UN embargoes were agreed, it was generally only once a conflict had begun. An Arms Trade Treaty would provide a broader framework to prevent weapons being sold before wars start or human rights abuses reach their peak. This would also enable tougher enforcement of UN embargoes according to common standards based on international law.

Today, Control Arms campaigners from around the world will also be marking 100 days to go until the UN world conference on small arms in June. During the next 100 days, campaigners in 110 countries will be holding marches, concerts and stunts to put pressure on their leaders to support an Arms Trade Treaty.
SOMALIA
On 16 March GLED Somalia will host a workshop engaging in discussion with arms dealers in Baidoa, Somalia. They are also organising a 3 day workshop for 100 parliamentarians in Baidoa where the government is based. They will brief the parliamentarians and introduce and discuss the Global Principles, the Model Resolution, the UN Firearms Protocol as well as control measures related specifically to Somalia. They will ask parliamentarians to sign up to the Million Faces Petition and tell them about the Community Safety project that GLED is running

“In the 100 days until the UN world conference on small arms starts, an estimated 100,000 people will be killed with arms and many more will be injured and suffer severely in other ways from armed violence. Today, people from Kenya to Canada to Chile will be calling on their leaders to demand global controls to stop weapons falling into the wrong hands,” said Rebecca Peters, Director of the International Action Network on Small Arms.

Over 800,000 people in 160 countries have already given their photographs to the Million Faces Petition, which is the world’s largest photo petition, calling on leaders to back stricter controls on the arms trade. It will be delivered at the June conference, representing the million people who have been killed by arms since the last UN conference on small arms in 2001.

ENDS

Further information

For more information or to request advanced copy report, please contact:

GLED Somalia: Abukar Albadri on +2521572300 or +2521217098
Oxfam: Clare Rudebeck on +44 1865 47 2530 or +44 7769 887 139.
Amnesty: James Dyson on + 44 207 413 5831 or +44 7795628367
IANSA: Anthea Lawson: +44 20 7065 0875 +44 7900 242 869

Editor’s notes:
The Control Arms Campaign is a joint initiative by Amnesty International, Oxfam International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). It aims to reduce arms proliferation and misuse and to convince governments to introduce a binding arms trade treaty.

ARMS TRAFFICKERS ENJOY IMPUNITY AS ALL UN ARMS EMBARGOES IN LAST DECADE ‘SYSTEMATICALLY VIOLATED’

Embargoed until 00.01 GMT on Thursday 16 March, 2006



Report from the Control Arms Campaign: Oxfam International, Amnesty International and International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA).

UN arms embargoes are systematically violated and must be urgently strengthened if they are to stop weapons fuelling human rights abuses, according to a report being presented to the UN Security Council today (Thursday).

According to the Control Arms Campaign every one of the 13 UN arms embargoes imposed in the last decade has been repeatedly violated. And despite hundreds of embargo breakers being named in UN reports, only a handful have been successfully prosecuted.

“Over the past ten years systematic violations of United Nations arms embargoes have met with almost no successful prosecutions. Unscrupulous arms dealers continue to get away with grave human rights abuses and make a mockery of the UN Security Council’s efforts, “said Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

Control Arms campaigners will today appeal to the UN Security Council for states to strengthen the enforcement of UN embargoes. They will argue for a raft of new measures, including the urgent agreement of an International Arms Trade Treaty.

This Treaty would enable governments to act in unison to strictly control conventional arms transfers, thereby creating the conditions for UN arms embargoes to be properly respected. Since the Campaign began in October 2003, over 45 countries have stated their support for such a treaty.

According to the report:
• UN investigative teams tasked with monitoring the embargoes are given woefully inadequate resources and time.

• Despite UN mandatory arms embargoes being legally binding under international law, many states have not even made violating an embargo a criminal offence.

• Arms export, import and freight documents are routinely faked and state officials often cover up arms transfers.

• UN peacekeepers are sometimes not trained to adequately record markings on weapons, while UN missions do not have adequate means to monitor ports of entry in embargoed zones.

“Illegal arms dealers are getting away with murder on a daily basis. Embargoes must be strengthened but even then they will remain a blunt instrument. They are often imposed by the UN Security Council on the basis of politics rather than principles and are usually deployed too late to save lives. The world urgently needs an Arms Trade Treaty if we’re to stop weapons getting into the wrong hands,” said Barbara Stocking, Oxfam’s Director.

According to campaigners, between 1990 and 2001 only 8 of 57 conflicts had UN arms embargoes imposed. Even when UN embargoes were agreed, it was generally only once a conflict had begun. An Arms Trade Treaty would provide a broader framework to prevent weapons being sold before wars start or human rights abuses reach their peak. This would also enable tougher enforcement of UN embargoes according to common standards based on international law.

Today, Control Arms campaigners from around the world will also be marking 100 days to go until the UN world conference on small arms in June. During the next 100 days, campaigners in 110 countries will be holding marches, concerts and stunts to put pressure on their leaders to support an Arms Trade Treaty.
SOMALIA
On 16 March GLED Somalia will host a workshop engaging in discussion with arms dealers in Baidoa, Somalia. They are also organising a 3 day workshop for 100 parliamentarians in Baidoa where the government is based. They will brief the parliamentarians and introduce and discuss the Global Principles, the Model Resolution, the UN Firearms Protocol as well as control measures related specifically to Somalia. They will ask parliamentarians to sign up to the Million Faces Petition and tell them about the Community Safety project that GLED is running

“In the 100 days until the UN world conference on small arms starts, an estimated 100,000 people will be killed with arms and many more will be injured and suffer severely in other ways from armed violence. Today, people from Kenya to Canada to Chile will be calling on their leaders to demand global controls to stop weapons falling into the wrong hands,” said Rebecca Peters, Director of the International Action Network on Small Arms.

Over 800,000 people in 160 countries have already given their photographs to the Million Faces Petition, which is the world’s largest photo petition, calling on leaders to back stricter controls on the arms trade. It will be delivered at the June conference, representing the million people who have been killed by arms since the last UN conference on small arms in 2001.

ENDS

Further information

For more information or to request advanced copy report, please contact:

GLED Somalia: Abukar Albadri on +2521572300 or +2521217098
Oxfam: Clare Rudebeck on +44 1865 47 2530 or +44 7769 887 139.
Amnesty: James Dyson on + 44 207 413 5831 or +44 7795628367
IANSA: Anthea Lawson: +44 20 7065 0875 +44 7900 242 869

Editor’s notes:
The Control Arms Campaign is a joint initiative by Amnesty International, Oxfam International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). It aims to reduce arms proliferation and misuse and to convince governments to introduce a binding arms trade treaty.

THE WORD DEMOCRACY AND PUBLIC OPINION IN SOMALIA
In Somalia the term "Democratic" is completely miss-understood. It's seen an outsider driven forces or ideology, which the outsider himself/herself has deep interest to change the people from their culture to his believes, so that GELD met difficulties from the stakeholders that they believe GLED is changing the culture of the people into foreign cult, but achieved to influence the people to persuade the exact meaning of the democracy at least some percentages in its live time.
“The Gun Kills but the Pen Teaches”

New report from the Control Arms Campaign: Amnesty International, Oxfam International, IANSA

G8 member states are undermining their commitments to poverty reduction, stability and human rights with irresponsible arms exports to some of the world's poorest and most conflict-ridden countries, according to new research issued today. G8 weapons have been exported to countries including Sudan, Myanmar (Burma), the Republic of Congo, Colombia and the Philippines.

On the eve of a meeting of G8 foreign ministers in London (23-24 June), a new report reveals how the G8 countries -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the USA -- are still supplying military equipment, weapons and munitions to destinations where they contribute to gross violations of human rights.

"Each year hundreds of thousands of people are killed, tortured, raped and displaced through the misuse of arms. How can G8 commitments to end poverty and injustice be taken seriously if some of the very same governments are undermining peace and stability by deliberately approving arms transfers to repressive regimes, regions of extreme conflict or countries who can ill-afford them?" said the Secretary General of Amnesty International, Irene Khan.

The report from Amnesty International, Oxfam International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) makes a clear case for the G8 to support the call from the UK government and 10 other countries for an international Arms Trade Treaty.

“This research shows that, as well as the G8 being responsible for more than 80% of the world’s arms exports, they persist in selling weapons that oppress the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. G8 foreign ministers meeting this week must back the Arms Trade Treaty and agree a process to make it happen," said Barbara Stocking, Director of Oxfam.

The report, The G8: Global arms exporters - Failing to prevent irresponsible arms transfers, exposes a series of loopholes and weaknesses in arms export controls common across many G8 countries:

• Canadian military exports to countries involved in armed conflict or human rights abuse including light armoured vehicles and helicopters to Saudi Arabia and aircraft engines and handguns to the Philippines;
• French exports in the UN category of "Bombs, grenades, ammunition, mines and other" to countries subject to European Union arms embargoes such as Myanmar and Sudan;
• The use of German components in military equipment destined for countries involved in serious human rights violations such as German engines incorporated into military vehicles that have ended up in Myanmar;
• A loophole in Italian law allowing large quantities of so-called "civilian firearms" to be exported to countries suffering gross human rights violations such as Colombia, the Republic of Congo, and China;
• Russian exports of heavy weaponry including combat aircraft to states whose forces commit human rights violations such as Ethiopia, Algeria, and Uganda;
• Substantial US military aid to states carrying out persistent human rights violations including Pakistan, Nepal and Israel;
• Japan's export of small arms and light weapons to countries with poor human rights records such as the Philippines;
• The lack of control on UK equipment that can be used for torture or ill-treatment and the UK’s increased use of "open licences" that allow companies to make multiple shipments without adequate scrutiny.

The examples included in the report show why a tough and enforceable Arms Trade Treaty is urgently needed. It should be international, legally-binding and based on international law -- especially human rights and humanitarian law -- because these universal standards if observed, would save lives, prevent suffering and protect livelihoods.

"In view of the massive loss of life and destruction of property and livelihood's fuelled by irresponsible arms transfers, the G8 must turn rhetoric into reality and push for negotiations to start on an Arms Trade Treaty by 2006. To do anything less would be a disgraceful betrayal of the millions of men, women and children subject to human rights violations and fear of armed violence every day," said Rebecca Peters, Director of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA).

Background
The Control Arms campaign was launched by Amnesty International, Oxfam International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) in October 2003. It aims to reduce arms proliferation and misuse and to convince governments to introduce a binding arms trade treaty.

For more information, please contact:
Amnesty International: James Dyson. +44 (0)2074135831. Mobile: +44 (0)07795628367. jdyson@amnesty.org
Oxfam: Clare Rudebeck. + 44 (0)1865 312 530. Mobile + 44 (0) 7769 887 139 crudebeck@oxfam.org.uk
IANSA: Alun Howard. +44 (0) 207 7065 0866. Mobile +44 (0) 7900 242 869

Contact person of Somalia:
Abukar Albadri,
P.O.Box: 205 Mogadishu
BN 03040 Somalia
Mobile: +2521 572300
Email: albadri10@yahoo.com
Mogadishu Somalia