LIVERPOOL City Council has called for the government to support a campaign to introduce tighter controls on the international trade in deadly weapons.
Led by Cllr Chris Newby, a former soldier who served in Northern Ireland, the authority has signed up to the new Control Arms Campaign.
The campaign is being run by Amnesty International, Oxfam and IANSA (International Action Network on Small Arms).
It aims to persuade the United Nations to establish an International Arms Trade Treaty (IATT) that would introduce tough, legally-binding controls on the trade in arms.
Already Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has voiced his support for the campaign, but Amnesty International is now recruiting the support of councils across the country to put more pressure on the Government.
Cllr Newby (Lib Dem, Knotty Ash) said: "The arms trade is a death trade and Liverpool City Council supported this campaign unanimously.
"It is important that councils and governments everywhere take a collective responsibility to rid the world of this destructive trade."
Dave Willoughby, a spokesman for the Liverpool branch of Amnesty International, said: "There are 639 million small arms in the world, or one for every ten people, produced by over 1,000 companies in at least 98 countries.
"The good news is that we don't have to sit back and accept this.
"Just by visiting our website people in Liverpool can join our campaign and help bring this deadly trade under control."
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