Turkish Forum

Tag: FIREARMS TRAFFICKING

  • David Grimason, whose son was killed by gunman in Turkey welcomes global treaty to regulate international arms trade

    David Grimason, whose son was killed by gunman in Turkey welcomes global treaty to regulate international arms trade

    David Grimason -1783868

    THE anti-gun campaigner was present at the Arms Trade Treaty Talks in New York, when the treaty was approved.

    David Grimason travelled to New York last week to lobby the UN to tighten up international arms trade

    Oxfam/PA

    A Scots dad whose toddler son was killed by a gunman with an illegal weapon has welcomed the first global treaty to regulate the international arms trade.

    David Grimason, who lost his two-year-old son Alistair in 2003, was present at the Arms Trade Treaty talks at the United Nations in New York when the treaty was approved.

    He has been campaigning for tighter controls on the trade of weapons since his son was killed during a gunfight at a cafe in the seaside village of Foca, Turkey, almost a decade ago, in July 2003.

    The toddler was asleep in his pram when an argument broke out at a nearby table and a man opened fire, killing the boy from East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire.

    Mr Grimason said: “It’s been an emotional day for me. It’s an overwhelming majority of nations that have recognised the need for an Arms Trade Treaty. The world recognised it was needed. We overcame the sceptics today and by such an amazing majority, it’s just incredible.

    “As someone who is living with the effects of gun violence, I realise the necessity for a Treaty that will restrict the flow of weapons and stop them getting into the hands of people that are going to abuse them. So for me, I recognise how much of a victory it is for humankind.

    “This treaty will have a legacy and that will be a future where restricting the movement of illegal arms and guns will save lives and will prevent others from suffering violence and terror.”

    Mr Grimason, who now lives in Aberdeen, was in New York as part of his work with Oxfam, which is a leading member of the Control Arms Coalition.

    Alistair Grimason

    More than 100 civil society groups working in 120 countries are represented by the Control Arms Coalition which is urging all states to sign and ratify the treaty.

    Anna MacDonald, Oxfam’s head of Arms Control, described the outcome in New York as an “incredible moment”.

    She said: “The agreement of the Arms Trade Treaty sends a clear message to arms dealers who supply war lords and dictators that their time is up. They will no longer be able to operate and arm themselves with impunity. The world will be watching and will hold them accountable.”

    Last week there was a setback as Syria, Iran and North Korea refused to ratify the treaty and delayed progress towards enshrining a set of rules to regulate the global arms trade in international law.

    “It is right that after consensus was blocked, states moved swiftly to adopt the treaty by voting. It is right that the will of the majority wins out, not the tiny minority of sceptics who were intent on wrecking the process,” said Ms MacDonald.

    “From the streets of Latin America, to the camps in eastern Congo, to the valleys of Afghanistan, communities living in fear of attacks because of the unregulated arms trade can now hope for a safer future. The world will be a more secure place to live in once the Treaty is in place,” she added.

    Alex Galvez, a survivor of armed violence and executive director of the Transitions Foundation of Guatemala, said: “This is a good day for armed violence survivors everywhere, and a proud day for the Control Arms Campaign. But the work doesn’t stop here. We have to make sure that this treaty actually makes a difference on the ground. States must move to ratify the ATT now, and make its swift implementation a top priority.”

    via David Grimason, whose son was killed by gunman in Turkey welcomes global treaty to regulate international arms trade – Daily Record.

  • Al-Jaafari: Syria opposes the current text of the Arms’ Trade Treaty

    Al-Jaafari: Syria opposes the current text of the Arms’ Trade Treaty

    Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari said that Syria has sought and will seek the legislation of arms trade due to the risk posed by illicit arms trade on international security and peace.

    20130330-114307_h475029During the closing session of the UN conference on the arms trade treaty, al-Jaafari said that Syria opposes the current text of the treaty as it doesn’t address foreign occupation, the right to self-determination of people under occupation, and the crimes of aggression, in addition to not having a clear article on the absolute ban of providing weapons to terrorist elements and groups.

    Al-Jaafari pointed out that Syria exerted big efforts to bring the delegations’ different points of view together to reach an unanimously draft of the arms trade treaty as the mission was not easy due to the deep differences among the member states.

    He said ” My country’s delegation worked hard to reach an agreement that preserves the rights of all the countries and tried to approximate the points of view through holding several meetings with a number of delegations and through proposing a number of essential points which we want that the treaty to include as it becomes balanced.”

    He added “My country opposes the current text of the treaty for the coming reasons:

    First: The treaty ignored the proposals of a number of countries including Syria on the inclusion of a reference in the text to the foreign occupation and the inalienable rights of the people under the foreign occupation to self-determination, as the Israeli occupation still occupies Arab territories in the Syrian Golan, Palestine and Lebanon.

    Second :The selectivity and transparency in the supervising procedures on armament don’t constitute a balanced and overall approach as it hinders the international community of committing to disarmament.

    Third: the current teary is an interference in the Security Council’s affairs.

    Fourth: The treaty is not unanimous as it doesn’t take into consideration the stances and views of a number of countries, among them Syria.

    Fifth: The text doesn’t include a frank paragraph on the categorically ban of supplying weapons to the armed terrorist groups and members.

    Al-Jaafari asserted that ignoring this dangerous issue which my country is suffering from due to providing the armed terrorist groups with arms by some countries is completely unacceptable by Syria as it is considered a flagrant violation of the international principles and charters with the aim of liquidating any hope of a political and peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria, based on the UN Security Council resolutions No. 2042 and 2043.

    Sixth: The treaty ignored the identification section to tackle some ambiguity on some idioms which have been mentioned in the treaty.

    Seventh: the text ignored an important issue that is the aggression crime which is unanimously identified and agreed on by the international community based on the UN General Secretariat Resolutions No. 3314 for 1974.

    Al-Jaafari stressed that the objection of one delegation on the draft means that there is no consensus, adding that “We support consensus on a good treaty, not on an inapplicable treaty which would be used in the future to put pressures on some countries.

    via Al-Jaafari: Syria opposes the current text of the Arms’ Trade Treaty.