Burnham-On-Sea’s MP has this week thrown her weight behind an international campaign calling for a robust, human rights-based arms trade treaty to be negotiated by the United Nations.
Tessa Munt took part in an action event in the House of Commons organised by The Control Arms Coalition – including Amnesty International, Oxfam and Saferworld – which called on MPs to demonstrate their support and urge Prime Minister David Cameron to publicly commit to a bulletproof arms trade treaty.
New figures recently released by the group claim 1,500 people die as a result of armed violence and conflict every day. It says the current poor regulations on arms trades allow weapons to fall into the wrong hands, where they can be used to fuel conflict, poverty and human rights violations.
Tessa told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “There are so many appalling issues in the world today facilitated or even caused by an unregulated arms trade – unlawful killings, poverty, sexual violence – and the list goes on. This is an issue that we should all be concerned about.”