Recently, members of Sir John Lawes Schools' Oxfam Youth Action Group visited our local MP Peter Lilley to hand him a petition concerning the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
Adopting Oxfam's slogan "it's easier to trade in guns than bananas" we asked pupils of the upper school to write on a small piece of paper in the shape of a banana why they wanted a fair Arms Trade Treaty. These slips were then glued together to create a giant poster stating the slogan and a giant image which showed a banana crossed with a gun.
Miriam Quinn and I were the students to present the petition, and Peter Lilley was very impressed with our efforts. The information was forwarded to senior foreign office minister Alistair Burt, who is in the position to negotiate the current regulations applied to the treaty.
We have since had a response from Alistair Burt, who stated that:
"The UK worked hard last year to help secure a robust and effective, legally binding Treaty and we are continuing this work…An ATT is coming and when it does, it will establish the common principles and legally binding framework that will make the world a safer place."
Alistair Burt is currently in New York meeting with representatives from countries worldwide, to try and agree on the terms of a life-saving treaty. You can find out and email Alistair Burt here.
Eleanor Hynes