18 January 2007 - Delays in implementing new EU rules on arms sales are costing lives in conflict zones around the world, Green Party Euro-MP Caroline Lucas has warned ahead of a parliamentary debate in Brussels .

“The EU Code of Conduct on arms exports aims to keep deadly weapons out of the ‘wrong hands’ in military conflicts,” she said.

“But despite being signed eight years ago the EU’s Council of ministers has failed to agree it will be implemented – and every day it is delayed people are being killed by weapons made in Europe .”

Speaking ahead of a European Parliament debate and vote on the annual report on the implementation of the EU Code of Conduct on arms exports today, Dr Lucas, who is co-founder and co-president of the European Parliament’s cross-party group on peace initiatives, and a member of the decision-making national council of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, added:

“It is unacceptable that a handful of Member States, which have made agreement on the Code of Conduct dependant on the lifting of the arms embargo on China, can use narrow commercial interests to block EU arms exports rules, which aim to prevent human rights violations and armed conflict.

“The debates on the Code of Conduct and the China arms embargo must be separated so that agreement on the code can be reached without delay to address the current legal limbo.

“EU arms (or arms components) still find their way to countries under UN or EU arms embargoes (such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq and China), as well as sensitive or unstable regions, where arms fuel internal tensions and regional instability.

“The code must be strengthened and member states should agree to implement it without delay.

"In addition, it is important to ensure that arms collected in the context of EU-led peacekeeping missions are destroyed and do not turn up in other conflicts at a later point. We need to build on the momentum of the recently-adopted UN resolution to create a global arms transfer treaty."

ENDS