Concerned over small arms fueling conflicts which kill thousands each year, 15 Nobel laureates, including Dalai Lama, have urged United Nations member states to vote for a resolution, which will allow start of work to draw up a treaty to stop 'irresponsible' weapon exports.
The crucial UN committee is expected to vote on the resolution later this week.
The call is strongly supported by Control Arms campaign, Oxfam International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA).
Seeking their support, the laureates, including Desmond Tutu, reminded the member states that these arms are causing the peoples of the world great destruction.
A majority of the member states have announced that they will support the resolution, pointing out that they include three of the top six arms exporters, UK, France and Germany and several emerging arms exporters, including Brazil, Bulgaria and Ukraine.
"We Nobel Peace Laureates know that the main principle behind a global Arms Trade Treaty is simple and unstoppable: no weapons should ever be transferred if they will be used for serious violations of human rights.
"It is crunch time at the UN: governments should take an historic step to stop irresponsible and immoral arms transfers by voting to develop a treaty that will prevent the death, rape and
displacement of thousands of people," said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
"The majority of the world's governments have already championed the resolution to start work on an Arms Trade Treaty. As a result, we are increasingly confident it will go through, meaning that the first, crucial step towards achieving a Treaty will be made.
"Now, it is vital that every government who wants to see an end to the needless suffering caused by the unregulated arms trade turns up and votes 'yes' at the UN on Wednesday," said Jeremy Hobbs, Director of Oxfam International.
"It is time for all wavering governments to join the moral majority and vote to set up a process to establish a global Arms Trade Treaty. "A thousand people die every day on average and many more are harmed as a result of the proliferation and misuse of small arms. The world can no longer leave civilians to the mercy of gunrunners, arms brokers and exporters who are profiting by their misery," said Rebecca Peters, Director of IANSA.
The resolution to start work on an Arms Trade Treaty has been co-authored by Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Kenya and the United Kingdom. If passed, it will set up a Group of Governmental Experts to look at the feasibility, scope and parameters of an Arms Trade Treaty and to report back Committee in 2008.
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