In My Name

According to the United Nations, a woman’s chance of dying in childbirth in the United States is 1 in 4,800. In Ireland, which has the best rate in the world, it is 1 in 48,000. In Sierra Leone, it is 1 in 8

Women die in childbirth every day, according to people who study the issue, because of cultures and traditions that place more worth on the lives of men. “It really reflects the way women are not valued in many societies,” said Betsy McCallon of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, one of the few groups that advocates to reduce deaths in childbirth. “But there is not that sense of demand that this is unacceptable, so it continues to happen.”

Irresponsible arms transfers are undermining many developing countries’ chances of achieving their Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets. This paper shows new evidence of how this is happening in parts of Asia, Latin America, and Africa – either by draining governments’ resources or by fuelling armed violence or conflict.

Either way, irresponsible arms transfers undermine governments’ development objectives and their citizens’ economic, social, and cultural rights.

Governments and their citizens urgently need a strong Arms Trade Treaty to ensure that all states involved in an arms transfer consider the impact of that transfer on the MDGs and sustainable development.