Traditional foes hold up progress on small arms
NEW YORK: After two weeks of talking, governments have achieved virtually no outcome from a UN conference on controlling the proliferation and misuse of small arms. During this time, approximately 12,000 more people have died at gunpoint and many more have been injured, bereaved or denied access to livelihoods, healthcare and education because of armed violence. Usually at loggerheads on disarmament issues, the USA and Iran, Israel and Egypt are on the same side of the table - holding up progress, and thus preventing thousands of lives from being saved every year. These four countries were joined by some others including China, Syria, India, and Pakistan in undermining the status of the final conference document. While the document was far from ideal, it was the only option left on the table at the end of a difficult meeting. "It is tragic that the many progressive governments have not stood up to the minority of states preventing any further controls on the movement of guns around the world. The majority of countries have already put a lot of time and effort into protecting men, women and children from gun violence. If they allow this to happen at the next meeting in June, it will be a betrayal of the millions of people whose lives are blighted by guns," said Rebecca Peters, Director of the International Action Network on Small Arms. This meeting at UN headquarters in New York was intended to set the agenda for the second world summit on small arms in June 2006, at which the Programme of Action (PoA) on small arms will be reviewed. Trinidad and Tobago was represented at the meeting by Folade Mutota of WINAD, a women’s organisation which was the initiator of the discussion on small arms in the Caribbean.
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"Traditional foes hold up progress on small arms"