Golden rule – no arms for atrocities
Amnesty International made the ‘golden rule’ to protect
human rights the centerpiece of the Control Arms
campaign and, working in parallel with the International
Committee of the Red Cross, this rule increasingly became
the heart of the treaty negotiations.
The ‘golden rule’ in essence is simple – governments
should not allow arms transfers if there is a real risk they
will be used to seriously violate human rights or commit
war crimes. By 2011 this rule was included in the draft
treaty texts but still not supported by the US and many
other states – but we kept up the pressure in as many
capitals as we could. Leading up to the UN ATT conference
in July 2012, we presented 620,000 signatures from over
65 countries – calling for a golden rule – to UN Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon and brought the symbolic graveyard
to the UN headquarters.