Moderator Wilma Welsh, on request of the General Assembly, has written to Peter Mackay, the minister of foreign affairs, to “adopt global transfer principles or criteria that would prevent the shipment of small arms to countries where there are serious human rights violations or to countries in which small arms are likely to undermine human security and development efforts.”
More than 500,000 people are killed globally each year and many more thousands maimed by small arms. “The Presbyterian Church in Canada witnesses the destructive impact of small arms in many of the countries where the church supports mission staff and relief and development programs,” wrote Welsh.
She asked the government to provide “strong leadership” at the United Nations Small Arms Review Conference to review the progress being made by governments in implementing the program to control the proliferation and misuse of small arms.
She acknowledged to Mackay that she was presenting “an ambitious agenda” which would require “a bold vision” and offered the “continuing prayers” of the church.
