Arms trade treaty needs churches to lobby together

Combined lobbying is seen as the best way to ensure human rights are not neglected in the treaty

by Symon Hill 4th November 2011

Churches have a crucial role to play in the run-up to next year’s negotiations of a global treaty to regulate the conventional arms trade.  This was the conclusion of a World Council of Churches (WCC) panel in New York last month. WCC general secretary Olav Fykse Tveit said key human rights obligations must be embedded in the treaty and churches should lobby together, on the basis of faith.