Arms kill more than half a million men, women, and children on average each year. Many thousands more are maimed, or tortured, or forced to flee their homes. The uncontrolled proliferation of arms fuels human rights violations, escalates conflicts, and intensifies poverty. The time for world leaders to act is now.

To confront this crisis, Oxfam, Amnesty International, and the International Action Network on Small Arms have together launched an international campaign, control arms, calling for effective arms controls to make people genuinely safer from the threat of armed violence.

"Shattered Lives" accompanies the new campaign, with accessible information on the background of the problem, the nature of human rights violations, and proposals for specific action.