(RV - 13 July 10) The United Nations began negotiations on a legally binding treaty
aimed at regulating the global arms trade to help prevent the illegal transfer
of guns that kill and injure thousands of people every day. Last December, the
192-member world body decided to hold a four-week U.N. conference in 2012 to draft
an arms trade treaty, and it authorized four preparatory conferences _ the first of
which began yesterday.
We spoke with Stijn Van Bever, Disarmament Officer for
Pax Christi International, about the consequences of illegal arms trade: