05 October 2005

The EU has announced for the first time that it supports the international Arms Trade Treaty. The agreement was made at the EU council meeting in Luxembourg on 03 October.

Simon Gray, Control Arms campaign manager at Oxfam said:"This is a massive step towards tougher international arms controls. For too long the arms trade has operated without international regulation and millions of people have died as a result. The backing of the EU for the international Arms Trade Treaty brings the treaty much closer to being a reality. Dozens of countries from around the world have already backed the treaty, attention now turns to the UN arms conference next year and ensuring that the treaty tops the agenda."

The EU currently accounts for two fifths (39%) of global arms sales.Oxfam International, Amnesty International and the International Action Network on Small Arms launched the Control Arms campaign in October 2003. Since then dozens governments from around the world have expressed their support for the treaty and hundreds of thousands of people have added their faces to the million faces petition for stricter arms control.

ENDS