AI Launches Protest Against Small Arms

Amnesty launched its Global Week of Action Against Small Arms with activities in Turkey over the weekend. Campaign Coordinator Vardar says UN conference to review small arms in June is important opportunity for countries to work together to disarm.

İstanbul

Amnesty International was on the streets this weekend to promote the Global Week of Action Against Small Arms while reminding spectators of the deadly consequences of such weapons and their practical effect as "weapons of mass destruction".

AI members came together at the entrance of the Istanbul Karakoy Underground Market on Saturday, May 27, calling for control mechanisms on arms trade in an action where demonstrators simulated people killed by small arms lying down on the ground accompanied by sounds of gun fire and having other demonstrators mark the posture of their 'bodies' with chalk.

Opening a banner "Control Arms", AI members then posed in front of a business place in Karakoy where guns firing blank cartridges were sold to have a group photograph taken to be submitted to the United Nations.

Activities are being held in more than 50 countries as part of the Global Week of Action Against Small Arms with the aim of attracting attention to the issue in advance of the June 26-July 7 meeting in New York of the United Nations where the issue of monitoring and regulating the trade of small arms will be discussed.

Vardar: Conference is an important opportunity

Amnesty International Turkey Branch Campaigns Coordinator Erdem Vardar said on the issue that the UN meeting in June was "an important opportunity for countries to overcome the arms crisis" while emphasising the increase of reaction in all countries to the "arms epidemic" accompanied by an international atmosphere of concern.

Vardar called on all governments to actively participate in the UN meeting and said "we congratulate Turkey's support to the agreement on International Arms Trade and we wish this to increase in a way that will effect the countries because until the meeting that will take place on small arms five years from now, 1.8 million people will have been shot by small arms such as that the lycee students [recently killed] in Samsun".

According to Amnesty International, at least 640 million firearms are in circulation in the world -one for every ten people on earth. Every day 1,000 people are killed due to firearms and many more are injured. Every year 8 million weapons are produced globally. With the 10-14 billion ammunition produced every year, it is possible to kill the world population two times over. (KO/II/YE)