June 25, 2002
Amnesty International has indicted the G-8 countries for undermining peace and security in Africa, the Middle East and Asia by fueling conflicts in those regions with arms sales.
The London-based human rights organisation said that the G-8 developed countries are undermining their own aspirations to bring peace to Africa, Middle East and Asia by the exportation of massive arms of destruction worth several billion dollars to the regions.
Specifically, the organisation said that the G-8 developed countries had exported more than $29 billion (about N3,770 billion) worth of arms to developing countries in 2000 and were thus responsible for more than 80 per cent of new weapons going into the developing world.
It called on G-8 leaders to sign an agreement not to allow any transfers of arms where there was a clear risk that they would be used to commit human rights abuses, war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Although the "War Against Terror" was high on the agenda at the forthcoming meeting in Kananasis, dangerous armed groups like al-Qaeda and "brutal or belligerent government forces" as seen in India and Pakistan, Israel or Zimbabwe had acquired huge arsenals of weapons from G-8 members, Amnesty said.
Africa is also to be discussed at the summit, which takes place on Wednesday and Thursday this week. The G-8 members are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan Russia and the US.
Amnesty said that in sub-Saharan African, 20 per cent of the population was affected by civil or inter-state conflict and spending on health was a fraction of the amount spent on arms procurement.
"G-8's proliferating trade in arms and military aid undermines fundamental human rights and sustainable development," Kate Allen of Amnesty UK said.
"If weapons are easier to get hold of than food and medicine, people will often resort to them as a way of realising their aspirations. This results in an escalation of violence in countries where human rights are not respected and economic opporutuities are non-existent for the majority."
According to Amnesty, Britain exports $600 million (about N78 billion) worth of arms to Africa every year.
It says that the US is the world's leading arms trader, exporting more than $14 billion (N1,820 billion) worth of military equipment to developing countries in 2000.
The Russian Federation had reportedly increased its exports of Kalashnikov rifles to African countries since 1999, despite the arms conflicts in the countries where such weapons are used to commit human rights violations, Amnesty said.
Russia had supplied tanks, attack helicopters and armed personnel carriers to Sudanese government forces despite the fact that summary executions, torture, abductions and forcible recruitment of children had been committed with impunity by these forces, it noted.
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