Transcript The Arms Trade

The Arms Trade
The United Nations
By CSPE.tv
CSPE.tv
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•Certain materials in this presentation are included
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Ireland Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000
•Materials are included in accordance with the [U.S.]
multimedia fair use guidelines; and
•Materials are restricted from further use.
•© EDMAN YOST, J. (1999), Copyright Chaos - An Educator's Guide to Copyright Law and “Fair Use”,
Intel Teach to the Future CD
CSPE.tv
Notice of Use Restrictions
•Certain materials in this presentation are included
under the Fair Use exemption of the U.S. Copyright
Law and/or under the Fair Dealing exemption of the
Ireland Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000
•Materials are included in accordance with the [U.S.]
multimedia fair use guidelines; and
•Materials are restricted from further use.
•© EDMAN YOST, J. (1999), Copyright Chaos - An Educator's Guide to Copyright Law and “Fair Use”,
Intel Teach to the Future CD
The arms trade: money well spent?
• Worldwide spending is nearly $1,ooo,ooo,ooo,ooo a year
• Some countries spend more on the military than on education or
health
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are
not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed...
— Former U.S. President, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953
Is the arms trade ethical trade?
•2,ooo people are killed every day
with weapons sold in the arms trade
•Many arms companies have been
involved in bribery and corruption
“The arms industry is unlike any other. It operates
without regulation. It suffers from widespread
corruption and bribes. And it makes its profits on the
back of machines designed to kill and maim human
beings.”
The Control Arms Campaign
Who buys the weapons
• Many weapons are sold to dictatorships and corrupt
governments in the developing world
• 20 out of the top 25 countries that buy American weapons
are undemocratic or human rights abusers
• Questions: who is allowed to have access to guns in
Ireland?
• What happens when guns get into the wrong hands in
Ireland?
• In Ireland firearms are very tightly controlled but for
international arms companies there are very little controls
Who makes the weapons?
• The USA, UK, France, Russia, and China are
responsible for nearly 90% of arms sales
• While people in the developed world benefit
from the money and jobs from the arms trade
people in the developing world pay the price.
What can be done?
• The UN working on an Arms Trade Treaty that will stop
arms sales that lead to conflict or human rights abuses.
• Corrupt governments that abuse human rights would
no longer be allowed to buy arms legally
• “Every day we are documenting gross human rights
abuses and war crimes perpetrated as a result of the
irresponsible trade in conventional arms, including
small arms. This Treaty is urgent...” Amnesty
International
A new Arms Trade Treaty
• In October 2008 147 states at the UN voted to
begin work on an Arms Trade Treaty. Only the US
and Zimbabwe voted against it.
• “We can’t have it both ways. We can’t be both
the world’s leading champion of peace and the
world’s leading supplier of arms.” Former US
President Jimmy Carter, presidential campaign,
1976
Anti-personnel mines were used by soldiers and rebels in wars all over the world.
More than three-quarters of those killed are civilians.
Every year more than 10,000 civilians stand on landmines and are killed or seriously
injured.
Most are killed in countries now at peace.
•What is happening in this picture?
•Where do you think this is?
•What do you think would happen if this mine was not found?
•There are more than 50 million landmines in the ground around the world
•It costs as little as $3 to make a mine but can cost $1,000 each to remove them
•What problems do you think mines cause for people in the developing
world?
The land mine treaty
• In 1997 people started a petition to have them banned
• Now most countries have agreed not to make or use
them
– 156 countries have signed the treaty
– 42 million landmines destroyed
– The trade in mines has ended
What is happening in this picture?
•There are 300,000 child soldier taking part in wars around the
world. Some of them are as young as 9 years old.
•Hundreds of thousands more children are members of armed
forces and could be sent into conflict at any time
•Some children “volunteer” to join armed groups in wartorn regions due to poverty or fear, but many others are
kidnapped and forced to join at gunpoint