Ahead of next week negotiations at the UN on the Arms Trade Treaty 18 Nobel Peace Laureates have written to US President Obama to call on him to agree and support the adoption of a strong text.
In the letter, names such as Oscar Arias, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and Leymah Gbowee say that “as humanitarians and peacemakers, we cannot accept the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are gunned down each year, with millions left maimed and traumatized.”
The Laureates reminded the President of the devastation cause by armed violence and the lack of international regulations and urged President Obama to join them “in this historic endeavor”.
Efforts to obtain signatories were coordinated by a variety of coalition members including International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War; Pax Christi International; Amnesty International and Oxfam-America.
