Control Arms

1000 people die each day from armed violence. 26 million people are currently displaced within their own countries by armed conflict and around 30 conflicts still continue around the world today.

The unregulated arms trade fuels conflict, poverty and serious human rights abuses. It also limit people's ability to earn a living, grow crops, and benefit from education whilst diverting money which should be used for vital services.

The Control Arms campaign was set up to make sure this unregulated trade is stopped.

The story so far

Currently there are no comprehensive, legally binding international rules governing the arms trade, and gaps and loopholes in national controls mean weapons are ending up in conflict zones and in the hands of human rights abusers.

In 2003, Oxfam launched its Control Arms campaign in alliance with IANSA & Amnesty International - part of a global push for tighter regulation of the arms trade.

Since then, countless publicity events, demonstrations, and high-level lobbying initiatives have kept leaders and decision-makers under pressure to act, and control the flow of weapons around the world.

In June 2006, the "Million Faces" petition was presented to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. And in December of that year 153 governments voted at the UN General Assembly to begin work towards on an historic, legally-binding international Arms Trade Treaty.

What next?

Voting in favour is a great step forward, but during the negotiation stages to come at the UN, some governments will try to weaken any treaty - as they're against stricter controls on the arms trade. We need to keep pressing them, to make sure they don't succeed.

How you can help

We need to keep the pressure up to make sure the final Treaty is as strong and robust as possible. We will be campaigning in the run up to each session at the UN discussing the Treaty. Sign up to the campaign at controlarms.org and we'll keep you up to date with all the ways you can help..