Category: Rights in crisis

Tomorrow we are hoping to make history. After 10 years of campaigning for a legally binding Arms Trade Treaty that works to curb the irresponsible weapons trade, world governments will finally vote on the treaty text in the UN General Assembly in less than 12 hours. Over the past two weeks, Oxfam campaigners have been […] Read more »

On the penultimate day of the ATT negotiations we got the media’s attention early morning with a helicopter assembled on a New York rooftop, with the UN in the background. Monday started with a press conference, where it was made clear to the world that the text on the table was not something that was going […] Read more »

“What do you actually do all day over there?” That’s a question a friend back home skyped me on Wednesday. I’ve been working on the Arms Trade Treaty for a long time now, and spent a lot of time at the various UN meetings. But what actually happens? What do we do all day? I thought I’d […] Read more »

 “The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings” Albert Schweitzer  Jordanian human rights organization, ARDD-Legal Aid, will be hosting a candlelight vigil in Mafraq City, Jordan, on Thursday, March 14, in solidarity with the people of Syria. ARDD-Legal Aid is the first Arab rights-based organization that […] Read more »

This week marks the second anniversary of the start of the bloody Syrian civil war, which has killed an estimated 70,000 people, injured hundreds of thousands more and led to over a million people fleeing the country in fear. The UN Security Council has failed to impose an arms embargo on Syria. With only a […] Read more »

It has been ten years since the Darfur conflict erupted and millions fled their homes in the countryside for the safety of towns and camps. If you do not live in Sudan, it is understandable if you think the problem resolved itself long ago. But if you could come with me to Darfur, the land where […] Read more »

It’s a pretty good day in the office when I get to work with a group of thirty inspiring South Sudanese community leaders and meet a Deputy Representative of the United Nations Secretary General. This is how I spent last Saturday at the final of six workshops run by the Humanitarian Crisis Hub in partnership […] Read more »

With a visit to Perth last week by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s for the Australia United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) defence talks, Oxfam, Amnesty, Act for Peace, Action Aid and Medical Association for the Prevention of War seized the opportunity to call on the US to help […] Read more »

Just hours after President Obama’s re-election was confirmed, the United States backed a resolution in the First Committee of the United Nations to recommence negotiations on the world’s first legally binding Arms Trade Treaty – an historic international instrument to regulate the $70 billion global trade in weapons. It was a joyous moment for the […] Read more »

Dr. Robert Mtonga from Zambia shares his reflections on the need for a global arms trade treaty. Here are four scenarios that I have lived through that have motivated me to campaign for an Arms Trade Treaty to control the deadly trade in weapons. Picture a boy, aged 13 years and full of naivety; he […] Read more »