January 15, 2004
Time to stop the arms trade!
An interview with Mary Robinson
from controlarms.org
Interview with Mary Robinson
Honorary President of Oxfam International
Q. Have you seen evidence of the increase in arms over the last few years?
Unfortunately yes I was very conscious of this is different places as High Commissioner for Human Rights. In Sierra Leone, in Sri Lanka, not only an increase in arms but more powerful so called small arms. Vicious Kalashnikov rifles and these shoulder carrying things that could do such devastating damage.
And the fact that it's so hard when guns get into a community sometimes a conflict would have ended and then it would resume a few months later because there were so many arms around, and rebels would take over. I mean I saw the problem in Sierra Leone. I saw it in other parts of Africa. The tragedy for the small population of East Timor for example; the militia had so many guns. They were just able to terrorise the population and then when the referendum went in favour of East Timorese independence, to kill them; hundreds of people in a very small population and to rape women at gunpoint and really commit terrible crimes.
Q. Have you seen yourself the impact that these weapons are causing on the ground?
Very much so. I saw the kind of devastating impact, in particular I suppose in Rwanda. The death from small arms of a genocide level really brought home these are weapons of mass destruction when they are used in this way. Now they used machete and knives as well but there were a lot of guns used. I also was very conscious in Sierra Leone, as I said, not only of the mutilation that was going on but also that so many people suffered from bullet wounds because there were so many guns available. And I heard from my human rights colleagues there that the same company was supplying the rebels and the government side. And so there were profits being made and you could see the devastation as a result.
In Chechnya it was horrific to see the impact of the arms there and I suppose most recently in East Timor a small community that was absolutely devastated by the availability of so many guns in the hands of the militia. And while the UN was preparing for a referendum and was therefore a kind of guardian of the people and none the less because there were so many guns available the slaughter of civilians, the rape of women at gunpoint, the whole harrowing impact of it.
Q. What role do you think governments could be taking to bring the arms trade under control?
Given the impact on the civilian population, so many deaths and the fact that it is mainly civilians that are being killed, it's surprising that governments are not taking it more seriously and what is particularly worrying is that the situation has got worse since the terrible attacks in the United States on 11th September. In the name of so called fighting a war on terrorism more guns have been supplied to regimes that have very bad human rights records. Those guns are going into all kinds of hands where again it's civilians, it's indigenous populations, it's children, it's the very weak who are being killed, being maimed, being tortured at gunpoint and so on.
Q. And what role do you think the UN could be playing?
Well I was very struck by the success of the landmines treaty, which was a combination of a few governments that were prepared to go forward and Canada in particular in that case. We also saw a wide civil society, a real movement, first of all bringing home how terrible the landmines were and then mounting a very effective mobilisation and campaign. We need the same kind of thing on the arms control, on the control of small arms. We need the outcome that Amnesty and Oxfam are campaigning for which is the UN Arms Trade Treaty by 2006.
Q. What do you think the major challenges will be facing the NGOs like Oxfam, Amnesty and IANSA in launching a campaign like this?
First of all I think its very good that [the organisations] have come together. I think in itself is very striking because [they] have experience on the ground. They can mobilise different kinds of constituencies, human rights and development and humanitarian. And really just bring home the facts. The facts speak for themselves. The fact that there are over 600 million small arms available. The fact that one person is killed per minute…they are horrific facts.
Q. What can ordinary supporters, ordinary people do to show that they would like to support this campaign?
I think one of the good things about campaigning now is to encourage people to think that everyone can make a difference. In this case everyone can lend their face to the million faces campaign so that this impacts on politicians, parliamentarians, ministers, decision makers when they see that you can mobilise more than a million people quite rapidly on this issue, then it gets higher up the government agenda. So I would encourage anybody who feels strongly about this, and I would say women in particular, who have every reason to feel strongly about it, that this is something you can do. You can join this campaign. You can have your face as part of it. Lend your face to the campaign. I'm going to do it. I think we should all do it.
Mary Robinson is former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She is now Honorary President of Oxfam International and heads the Ethical Globalization Initiative.