Closed: Disarm dictators - keep weapons out of the wrong hands

Update 29 June 2012: With negotiations for the first ever Arms Trade Treaty just days away we have closed this petition in time to hand it to Ban Ki Moon on Monday 2 July.

Many thanks to all of you for helping us get nearly 10,000 signatures! See what else has been going on across the UK

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Background

No-one knows for sure how many hundreds of thousands of people were killed in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. But we do know that at least some of the weapons used to do the killing came from companies based in the UK and USA.

It was known that Saddam was committing atrocities, and yet the flow of weapons to Iraq did not cease. Next month we have the opportunity to end such irresponsible arms sales for good as world leaders meet to draw up the first ever treaty aimed at controlling this deadly trade.

With your help, the Arms Trade Treaty can help save thousands of lives. But it will only succeed if it makes clear that arms shall not be transferred where there is serious risk that they will be used to commit human rights abuses and atrocities or fuel poverty. Read more on our campaign to properly regulate the arms trade