Acknowledging India's role as a "great democracy and a global power," four international groups, including Amnesty International, Thursday urged India to take the lead to push for a global control on small arms trade.
The groups, which also included Control Arms Foundation of India and International Action Network on Small Arms, asked India to lend support at the UN meeting this June for a global Arms Trade Treaty, prepared by 19 Nobel Laureates, that provides for a set of common minimum standards for control of transfer of arms, based on existing responsibilities of member-states under various international laws.
"A world conference in 100 days time could agree to the principles of ATT to control international arms transfer and India can be a key influence at the UN conference," Oxfam's South Asia policy coordinator Ben Phillips said.
"We are not talking about ending the arms trade. We are talking of regulating it," Phillips said, adding "worldwide, 80-90 per cent of legally traded arms end up in illegal hands." Though India has not yet signed the treaty but according to Phillips India could be persuaded.
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