Hundreds of people from across the UK are due to gather in Westminster for what may be the last chance to lend their support to the campaign before crucial talks on the arms trade take place at the UN next month (June).

The mass lobby comes after a three-year long campaign by the Control Arms Campaign – which includes Amnesty International, the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and Oxfam – for tighter legislation on the international arms trade.

With less than 50 days to go before world leaders gather at the UN in New York for crucial talks, Amnesty’s lobby is intended to send a strong message to the Government that the British people backs the call for tighter controls on the brokering and trading of arms internationally. An international Arms Trade Treaty would reduce the chances of weapons ending up in the hands of those who use them for torture, unlawful killings or other gross human rights violations.

Simon Ware of Amnesty International’s Central Birmingham group said:
“It’s really important that as many people join us on 10 May. We need to tell the Government that people in Birmingham do care about the way arms are traded globally.

“When you consider that one thousand people are killed every day by armed violence, it’s clear that existing arms controls aren’t working. An international Arms Trade Treaty will end the arms trade free-for-all and help save people’s lives.”

MPs and campaigners will have an opportunity at the lobby to add their name and face to the world’s largest visual petition – the Million Faces Petition – which will be delivered to the UN Review Conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons in June. Over 945,000 people have already signed up around the world.

To find out more about being part of Amnesty’s mass lobby, please call 020 7033 1777 or visit www.amnesty.org.uk