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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><FONT size=3>Dear Colleagues of
PHA,<BR><BR>I would like to share with you this information<BR> Best
Regards<BR><BR> Ghassan Shahrour<BR> Yarmouk</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><FONT size=3>Public Health Net on
Small Arms<BR> Damascus - Syria<BR> Email 1: </FONT><A
href="mailto:afodafro@scs-net.org"><FONT
size=3>afodafro@scs-net.org</FONT></A><BR><FONT size=3> Email 2:
</FONT><A href="mailto:syria@icbl.org"><FONT
size=3>syria@icbl.org</FONT></A><BR><STRONG> </STRONG></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><STRONG></STRONG></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><STRONG><?xml:namespace prefix = o
ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></STRONG></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><STRONG>Global
commitments to small arms controls under threat from US at United Nations World
Summit<o:p></o:p></STRONG></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Activists around the world today
condemned US attempts to remove all references to controlling the small arms
trade from a United Nations document due to be signed by more than 170 world
leaders next month. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">With less than three weeks before
heads of state arrive in New York for the unprecedented summit on poverty and UN
reform, the US has taken an axe to the proposed outcome document for the summit,
requesting the deletion of the only two commitments on small arms:
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<UL style="MARGIN-TOP: 0cm" type=disc>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">To<I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> </I>“adopt and implement an international
instrument to regulate the marking and tracing, illicit brokering, trade and
transfer of small arms and light weapons.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></LI></UL>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 27pt"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<UL style="MARGIN-TOP: 0cm" type=disc>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">To implement the 2001 UN
Programme of Action. This agreement was an early step by the international
community towards controlling the trade in small
arms.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></LI></UL>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">More
than 140 States have expressed support during the last few months of
negotiations for the inclusion of one or both of these commitments on small arms
in the measures to be agreed by the summit.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“The World Summit will set the
agenda on security and development for the years to come. The uncontrolled
proliferation of guns is the missing link for both of these issues. How can
people work their way out of poverty when they can’t step outside for fear of
bullets?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The majority of
governments who are beginning to recognize this must not allow the US to let
arms control slip off the agenda,” </SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">said Rebecca Peters, Director of
International Action Net on Small Arms.<I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></I></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Small
arms kill at least 300,000 people a year and injure over a million more. They
prevent access to healthcare, education and humanitarian assistance and fuel the
conflicts that destroy economies and employment opportunities. IANSA members are
calling for a new global legally-binding treaty to control the arms
trade.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The World Summit will take place
at UN headquarters in New York on 14-16 September. Negotiations on the outcome
document are now in their final stages. The text of the US proposed amendments
is available at
www.reformtheun.org.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>