Skip to main content
Amnesty International UK
Log in
May 12 2023 11:45AM
Why anti-protest policing over the Coronation weekend is the writing on the wall

Anti-protest arrests made on Saturday provide real life examples of those warnings coming to fruition, demonstrating why it’s imperative that these draconian and repressive anti-protests laws are scrapped at the earliest opportunity.

Apr 26 2023 3:51PM
The Public Order Bill: Explained

The UK Government's Public Order bill has passed. Find out what this means below: Today (26 April 2023) the final stages of the Public Order Bill finally passed the House of Lords. The bill will introduce yet more draconian powers to...

Dec 17 2015 10:45AM
Broken by its own champion – a very un-happy birthday to the Global Arms Trade Treaty

The global Arms Trade Treaty came into force last Christmas Eve. In many ways a very familiar story of a miracle birth, heralded as a new chapter for humankind. One year on, though, and it’s already been broken. More shockingly still...

Sep 17 2015 6:10PM
My day at the London Arms Fair

I’ve worked professionally in the field of arms trade regulation for the past 20 years and yesterday was a first for me. I was refused entry to this year’s DSEi Arms Fair in London's ExCel Centre , an event I've been to before to...

Aug 6 2014 7:21PM
Under pressure: how long will it take Ministers to stop arming Israel?

Just how long will the UK Government take to decide on whether or not the UK should be arming Israel? We know that Ministers have been reviewing arms licences for many days, and still they ponder. With 1,814 Palestinians killed and...

Apr 2 2014 5:44PM
One year since the arms treaty vote and there's more work to do

It doesn’t seem like a year ago that I was sitting quietly in the balcony overlooking the main UN General Assembly chamber in New York, nervously awaiting the landmark vote to adopt the arms trade treaty. I say quietly because we’d...

Mar 29 2013 2:08PM
Arms Trade Treaty blocked - this isn't failure, this is 'success deferred'.

Yet again in the final hours, the Arms Trade Treaty was blocked. This time because of a cynical move by Iran, Syria and North Korea. In the Byzantine world of the UN, the exchange between the Chair and the three wreckers was so polite...

Mar 28 2013 1:42PM
Arms Trade Treaty history - twenty years in the making?

I'm in New York for final talks to agree the Arms Trade Treaty that I've been campaigning for for nearly twenty years. Two days ago things were looking as bleak as the weather here in NYC. The climate in the room for many of us was...

Jul 27 2012 2:01PM
Arms Trade Treaty: The final hours

Want to get straight to the loopholes? Skip ahead At 4pm yesterday (9pm UK time, if you're counting), a packed UN conference room received the final draft of the Arms Trade Treaty from Ambassador Moritan. After nearly 20 years of...

Jul 11 2012 12:40PM
Arms Trade Treaty: The battle for bullets (and tear gas, small arms, missiles…)

It's self-evident that to control the arms trade you have to actually control all the things that kill, maim and brutalise people, and capture all the ways that arms get into the wrong hands. Maybe I take an overly simplistic view of...

Jul 4 2012 4:08PM
Arms Trade Treaty talks get off to a strong (if delayed) start

After several false starts, the Arms Trade Treaty negotiations finally got underway yesterday. The Chair of the conference, Ambassador Moritan, was keen to make up some lost time and kept everyone in the room for an extra hour beyond...

Feb 17 2012 2:58PM
Still everything to play for with an arms treaty

It’s late on Thursday evening on day four of the Arms Trade Treaty preparatory conference. As I write, states participating in the conference have as yet not reached an agreement on the crucial rules of procedure that will determine...

Feb 15 2012 3:11PM
Make love not loopholes

Love was truly in the air today at the UN Arms Trade Treaty talks, being of course valentines day. Some handed out roses, we handed out campaign stickers . Our message to delegates: “Show some love for the arms trade treaty” and “make...

Feb 13 2012 1:35PM
Any old Arms Trade Treaty not an option

So here I am, sitting in a cold New York, writing our first Blog on the eve of the start of the fifth and final Arms Trade Treaty preparatory negotiations, the culmination of nearly 20 years of work to establish a set of strong and...