How can we end the misery created by the global arms trade?

We need tougher global arms controls. By campaigning for change, ordinary people can force our governments to act. In North Yorkshire four years ago, a small group of women from the Rylstone Women's Institute produced a calendar of themselves nude, hoping to sell a few hundred copies. This calendar became a worldwide sensation and now the story has been turned into the film, Calendar Girls, in which I feature. This small group of women have raised a large sum of money for leukemia research and increased awareness of the disease internationally.

The impact of the work of these women demonstrates that we have the power to demand action and change. Perhaps the best way is not for the entire population to go naked in the name of international arms control but if enough people stand up and demand an end to the deadly global trade in arms, governments must listen.

On 10 October, Oxfam Community Aid Abroad, Amnesty International Australia, and IANSA, (the International Action Network on Small Arms - a network of over 500 organisations), joined together to demand international change by launching the Control Arms campaign. Thousands have already given their support to the global campaign, which aims to ensure that both the supply and use of conventional weapons are strictly regulated.

There is little time to lose: in the same minute in which a person dies from armed violence, 15 new arms are manufactured for sale. By the time we turn our calendars from October to November, almost 42,000 people will have died.

The bare facts of the global arms trade should be chilling enough to spur governments into implementing strong controls. It is now up to people in Australia and around the world to demand their leaders take this action.