The number of children recruited as child soldiers will diminish if a strong treaty can be negotiated at the UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty which is scheduled to run until the end of this week, according to Justus Nyang’aya, country director of Amnesty International Kenya. The purpose of the proposed treaty is to regulate the international trade in conventional weapons, with the aim of preventing the supply of weapons where there is a risk of serious violations of human rights.
The idea of an arms trade treaty was considered by the UN in 2006, but the US voted against. As the US is the world’s biggest exporter of arms, its agreement is considered vital. The current US government has indicated that it is in favour of a treaty, but powerful US lobby groups are against, arguing that it will restrict the ownership of weapons in the US. The number of people killed by guns in the US each year is about the same number as those killed by motor vehicles.
According to Amnesty International, irresponsible arms transfers contribute to the deaths of half a million people per year, as well as facilitating the majority of the world’s human rights violations. Syria is just the latest example of a country where arms supplied by other countries have led to devastation. It remains to be seen whether the current UN conference will produce a workable solution.