"International Alliance Formed to Help Curb Gun Proliferation and Misuse" 8/14/00 For Immediate Release: August 10, 2000 Contact Information: Co-ordinator International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) Post Box 422 37 Store Street London, ENGLAND WC1E 7BS (UK) www.iansa.org email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Co-ordinator Join Together 441 Stuart Street Boston, MA 02116 USA (617) 437-1500 www.jointogether.org The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), a new network of organizations worldwide working to prevent the proliferation and misuse of small arms, and Join Together, a resource for communities working to reduce gun violence, announced that they have formed a web-based alliance to help curb the proliferation and misuse of guns. Handguns, rifles and machine guns are used to intimidate and kill civilians in communities all over the world. From war in The Congo to death squads in Colombia; from massacres of school children in the UK and United States to gun crime in South Africa, guns are destroying lives. Up until now, governments have taken a piecemeal approach to what is fast becoming a major international crisis. That is why it is vital that civil society organizations help raise awareness of this growing problem and break down the barriers between domestic and international efforts to work together. In an effort to support local initiatives in various parts of the world, bring added attention to this issue and raise public awareness, Join Together recently began hosting the IANSA website www.iansa.org and will work with IANSA to expand the technological ability of the site and integrate more regional capabilities in terms of developing regional sections within the umbrella IANSA site. WWW.IANSA.ORG provides users with (the contacts, expertise and) information to assist (organisations in) their work to reduce the proliferation and misuse of small arms worldwide. This online resource provides users with: access to valuable experience, expertise and documentation links to new partners working on related issues regional information on issues for possible collaboration action requests to act in support of other network participants information about regional/international events and initiatives, including the 2001 UN Conference on Small Arms Both IANSA and Join Together provide a framework within which organizations working to tackle different aspects of gun proliferation and misuse/violence can support and learn from each other. This new alliance will more effectively help co-ordinate gun violence prevention activities and campaigning worldwide by bringing together gun control groups, local community action and public health groups, victim support groups, human rights organizations, policy think tanks, and development and humanitarian relief agencies. WWW.IANSA.ORG will help to support a strong movement with a powerful voice. * * * * * IANSA was officially launched at the Hague Appeal for Peace International Conference in May 1999. IANSA is a network of nearly 300 organizations from around the world working to prevent the proliferation and misuse of small arms. IANSA has been supported by The Ploughshares Fund, the Ford Foundation, the Winston Foundation, the Car-eth Foundation, the Compton Foundation and Christian Aid. Join Together, a project of the Boston University School of Public Health, serves as a national resource for communities working to reduce gun violence and substance abuse. Funding to support Join Together's gun violence prevention project is provided by the Joyce Foundation. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
