UN General Assembly
2017

The world is awash in all types of weapons, from nuclear weapons to small arms and light weapons. The arms trade, both licit and illicit, keeps on growing. The proliferation of arms, including weapons of mass destruction, among terrorist groups and other non-State actors has become a real danger. These trends are deeply worrying, but more disturbing still is the deep chasm that separates commitments made from actions taken in the field of disarmament and arms control. While everyone condemns the grave effects of arms proliferation, nothing has substantially changed on the ground, because, as Pope Francis has observed, “[W]e say the words ‘no more war!’, but at the same time we manufacture weapons and sell them ... to those who are at war with one another”.