Nobel Laureates Urge UN To Back Arms Trade Treaty

Police show automatic weapons confiscated in Kabul earlier this month (epa) October 24, 2006 -- Fifteen Nobel Peace Prize winners are urging United Nations member states to support a draft treaty that would impose further controls over international arms sales.

The draft is being debated at the UN this week.

The Nobel laureates -- including the Dalai Lama, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and the human rights group Amnesty International -- say in a letter that UN member countries need to step forward to stop irresponsible arms transfers to warring parties that are causing the world much pain and destruction.

(AFP)