Anti-gun activists have today urged the United Nations today to negotiate a new treaty regulating international transfers of small arms.
They are alarmed by a booming global trade in Kalashnikov assault rifles, which have become the world's most universal military weapon - with an estimated 70 million in use around the world, the Control Arms Campaign said.
The plea by the campaign - a coalition of Amnesty International, Oxfam International and the International Action Network on Small Arms - comes as the United Nations opened a two-week conference considering an expanded crackdown on the $1 billion-a-year illegal global trade in small arms.
But the call for a new treaty, while a topic for discussion at the conference, would require the UN General Assembly's approval after it opens its next annual session in September.
Campaigners plan to present UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan with a petition backing a new treaty and signed by a million people from more than 160 nations - symbolising the number of people killed by guns since the last UN small arms conference in 2001.
Although many governments favour a treaty, Britain has announced plans to instead seek international guidelines, while the United States has said no new agreement was needed.