{"id":15436,"date":"2012-06-13T14:18:40","date_gmt":"2012-06-13T22:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=15436"},"modified":"2012-06-13T14:18:40","modified_gmt":"2012-06-13T22:18:40","slug":"arms-from-us-fueling-killings-and-mass-rape-in-congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/13\/arms-from-us-fueling-killings-and-mass-rape-in-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"Arms From US Fueling Killings and Mass Rape in Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amnestyusa.org\/news\/press-releases\/arms-supplies-from-united-states-others-fueling-killings-and-mass-rapes-in-drc-underscoring-need-for\">Amnesty International<\/a>, &#8220;arms and military equipment from the United States, France, China, Russia and others are contributing to grave human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including killings, rape, looting and abductions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The report,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amnestyusa.org\/research\/reports\/if-you-resist-we-ll-shoot-you-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-and-the-case-for-an-effective-arm\"><em>If You Resist, We&#8217;ll Shoot You<\/em><\/a>, details how Congolese security forces and armed groups alike are able to commit serious human rights violations because of the ease with which weapons and ammunition are available.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If we want to stop the killings, the mass rapes and the abductions in the DRC and in other countries, we must begin by stopping the unfettered firepower that fuels these and other human rights abuses,\u201d said Suzanne Nossel, executive director, Amnesty International USA.\u00a0 \u201cThe DRC is only one example, among many around the world, where the persistent transfer of weapons to security forces and armed groups drives human rights abuses&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>According to Amnesty International\u2019s research, unregulated and irresponsible arms transfers contribute to the deaths of at least 500,000 people on average every year.\u00a0 About 60 percent of the human rights violations documented in a study by the organization involved the use of small arms and light weapons.\u00a0 The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council \u2013 China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States \u2013 collectively account for 88 percent of the global arms trade.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Irresponsible arms transfers contribute to horrors all over the world, and the US is mentioned on a list of world powers that make up 88 percent of the global arms trade. But don&#8217;t let that fool you. The US is no small portion of that: some estimates say <a href=\"http:\/\/www.armscontrol.org\/act\/2011_11\/US_Reclaims_Half_of_Global_Arms_Trade\">the US accounts for half<\/a> of the global arms trade, and thus bears a disproportionate share of the responsibility for the deaths of some 500,000 people each year. In the case of the Congo, Washington gives <a href=\"http:\/\/foreignassistance.gov\/OU.aspx?OUID=325&amp;FY=2013&amp;AgencyID=0&amp;budTab=tab_Bud_Planned\">about $230 million each year<\/a> to the authorities and US arms <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amnestyusa.org\/research\/reports\/if-you-resist-we-ll-shoot-you-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-and-the-case-for-an-effective-arm\">go to security forces and armed groups which have committed<\/a> &#8220;crimes under international law including unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence on a large scale&#8221; in a &#8220;conflict that has resulted in the suffering of millions of men, women and children.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Amnesty International, &#8220;arms and military equipment from the United States, France, China, Russia and others are contributing to grave human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including killings, rape, looting and abductions.&#8221; The report,\u00a0If You Resist, We&#8217;ll Shoot You, details how Congolese security forces and armed groups alike are able to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-15436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15437,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15436\/revisions\/15437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15436"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=15436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}