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               Syria Conflict Stokes Calls for Global Arms Treaty

   by Henry Ridgwell

   LONDON--Arms control advocates are demanding a new treaty on the global
   arms trade when governments meet next month in New York for the U.N.
   Diplomatic Conference.  The conflict in Syria has focused new attention
   on the arms trade issue.
   Last February in Homs, Syria, photojournalist Paul Conroy witnessed his
   colleague, Sunday Times writer Marie Colvin, killed in a rocket
   attack.  Conroy has now joined activists with the Control Arms
   Coalition who are demanding a new treaty to control the global arms
   trade.  He says he was shocked by the weaponry the Syrian army had at
   its disposal.
   "They had a continual, unlimited supply of weapons," Conroy noted.  "So
   when we looked into it, I confronted the Russian representative who
   openly admitted, 'Yes, we're selling weapons to Syria.' I asked him
   would they stop and he said 'no.' There was literally nothing anybody
   could do. They couldn't pick up a piece of paper and wave an
   international treaty at them. They just said if we don't sell them
   someone else will."
   Conroy and other activists recently rented a tank to try to raise
   awareness of the lack of an arms control treaty. Campaigners plan to
   take the tank on a tour of London, past embassies of countries which
   they say are major players in the global arms industry.  That includes
   India where they handed in petitions to the embassy staff.  The
   campaigners claim there are more export controls on food than there are
   on weapons.  To hammer the point home, passers-by in London were given
   bananas.
   There were similar stunts in New York where the United Nations
   Diplomatic Conference begins on July 2.  Suzanne Nossel is executive
   director of Amnesty International USA.
   "This would be the first treaty that regulates a trade in arms that
   results in the deaths of 1500 people every day, half a million people
   every year in conflicts around the world," said Nossel.
   Howard Wheeldon is director of policy at ADS Group, which represents
   the British defense industry.  He says Britain, the U.S. and other
   Western arms exporters have already agreed to stringent controls.
   "What we need is a treaty that encompasses all the world, all
   countries, to ensure that no country will sell arms to another that
   really don't fit into the categories that we've laid down," said
   Wheeldon.
   "Do I think it will succeed?  Well I suspect probably not but we'll
   give it every effort."

   Campaigners say the conflicts across the Arab world highlight the
   urgent need for controls on selling arms.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/syria-conflict-prompts-calls-for-glob
   al-arms-treaty/1351689.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/syria-conflict-prompts-calls-for-global-arms-treaty/1351689.html