Most weapons that end up being used in terrorism or crime started off as legitimate sales, writes Jim Loughran
The 2006 review conference on the arms trade taking place in New York is the first time in five years that world leaders have come together to review progress in the implementation of the UN Programme of Action on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons.
Governments will spend two weeks discussing the effectiveness of existing controls and if steps can be taken to tighten control.
Every year more than half a million people are killed by armed violence - that's one person every minute. On current trends up to 12,000 people will be killed by small arms during the two weeks of the conference.
Is the will there to take action? Will the international community put human security or financial security first? Will members of the Security Council (who account for 70 per cent of the global arms market) put the interests of ordinary people before their own economic interests?
We know that the arms trade fuels war and conflict. We know that it undermines development, prevents access to education and humanitarian relief. Amnesty International and Oxfam have campaigned to build support for a new legally binding international arms trade treaty. We hoped there would be enough support for the treaty to get it on to the agenda of the review conference.
Despite support of more than 50 countries we will have to hope that the final report is not diluted to a level of insignificance, simply to create something that governments can sign but which will not change the life of a single person or affect the economic interests of the big players.
On the first day of the conference Julius Arile from Kenya handed UN secretary general Kofi Annan the world's largest visual petition, the Million Faces Petition, which calls for tougher arms controls and contains the images of one million people in over 160 countries.
"I live in Kanyarkwat, in West Pokot, in Kenya. I live in a very scattered village; because of the conflict in the region and in the areas bordering Uganda, families have been split up and scattered. I was also involved in these conflicts, and it was in one of these conflicts a few years ago that my brother and many of my friends were killed. It was at this point that I gave up fighting, realising that guns were only bringing me more problems. I swapped my AK47 for a running kit, and now I run all the time and compete in national athletics competitions."
But while Julius this week won the "Race for Peace" in New York, AK47s and other weapons continued to flow into his and other countries in the region.
It is the free availability of guns in Kenya, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo that fuels the conflicts keeping these countries in a perpetual state of crisis.
Meanwhile, the Sudan Liberation Army in Darfur is recruiting a generation of child soldiers who will end up brutalised and abandoned. We face the risk of the Sudan crisis spilling over into Chad. Will the international community finally recognise that if they really want to find a solution to the continuing tragedy of Africa they have to turn off the tap to the supply of arms?
But gun control is not just something that affects people in war-torn countries. Every week brings another murder or gun-related crime in Ireland. Recent surveys by Amnesty international and Oxfam in Brazil, Guatemala, Canada, South Africa, Britain and India found that across the globe, many people were living in daily fear of armed violence.
Nearly two in three people (62 per cent) across the six countries said they worried about becoming a victim of armed violence. Even in Britain and Canada, more than one in three people (39 per cent and 36 per cent respectively) worried about becoming a victim of armed violence.
One of the biggest failures of the UN debate is the insistence in focusing only on the "illegal traffic" while ignoring the fact that most weapons which end up being used in terrorism, crime or domestic violence started off as a legitimate sale.
The guns flowing into Ireland in the backs of containers hidden under bags of cocaine started out as a legitimate sale over the counter. There needs to be effective control and accountability on the sales of all weapons.
So have we grounds for optimism arising from this latest UN conference? Yesterday the conference chair presented the draft final report.
The new document has removed commitments to human rights and humanitarian issues, existing international standards on the proper use of force by state agents and specific references that reflect the impact on women and children.
Regardless of the outcome of this conference, given the ground swell of public support Amnesty International and Oxfam remain confident that the meeting of the UN General Assembly in September will see a major breakthrough in progress towards an arms trade treaty.
Over the next week Amnesty and Oxfam will be lobbying to ensure that the conference does not betray the hopes of Julius and thousands others like him. We hope we can count on the Irish Government to play its part.
• Jim Loughran is campaigns and communications officer at Amnesty Ireland