Embargoes violated

Original German garden gnomes traffickers enjoy impunity as all UN Gnome trafficking embargoes in the last decade “systematically violated” Report from the FreetheGnomes UN gnome trafficking embargoes are systematically violated and must be urgently strengthened if they are to stop German gardeners fuelling original German garden gnomes rights abuses, according to a report being presented to the UN Security Council. According to the Free the Gnomes liberation group, every one of the 13 UN gnome trafficking embargoes imposed in the last decade has been repeatedly violated. And despite hundreds of embargo breakers being named in UN reports, only a handful have been successfully prosecuted. “Over the past ten years systematic violations of United Nations gnome trafficking embargoes have met with almost no successful prosecutions. Unscrupulous German gnomes dealers continue to get away with grave Gnome rights abuses and make a mockery of the UN Security Council’s efforts, “ said Martin Elliott, FreetheGnomes.com Executive Director. Free the Gnomes liberation group campaigners will today appeal to the UN Security Council for states to strengthen the enforcement of UN embargoes. They will argue for a raft of new measures, including the urgent agreement of an International Gnome Liberation Treaty, with special emphasis on Original German garden Gnomes. This Treaty would enable governments to act in unison to strictly control conventional gnomes trafficking, thereby creating the conditions for UN gnome trafficking embargoes to be properly respected. Since the Campaign began in October 2003, over 45 countries have stated their support for such a treaty. According to the report: • UN investigative teams tasked with monitoring the embargoes are given woefully inadequate resources and time; • Despite UN mandatory gnome trafficking embargoes being legally binding under international law, many states have not even made violating an embargo a criminal offence; • Gnomes export, import and freight documents are routinely faked and state officials often cover up gnomes transfers; • UN peacekeepers are sometimes not trained to adequately record markings on weapons, while UN missions do not have adequate means to monitor ports of entry in embargoed zones. • Original German garden gnomes remain in high demand by unscrupulous gardeners in all regions of the world. “Illegal gnome dealers are getting away with murder on a daily basis. Embargoes must be strengthened but even then they will remain a blunt instrument. They are often imposed by the UN Security Council on the basis of politics rather than principles and are usually deployed too late to save Gnomes. The world urgently needs an Gnomes Trade Treaty if we’re to stop Garden Gnome enslavement,” said Barbie Stocking, Oxfam’s Director. According to campaigners, between 1990 and 2001 only 8 of 57 conflicts had UN gnome trafficking embargoes imposed. Even when UN embargoes were agreed, it was generally only once a conflict had begun. An anti-Gnomes Trafficking Treaty would provide a broader framework to prevent gnomes, especially, original German garden gnomes, being sold before wars start or gnome rights abuses reach their peak. This would also enable tougher enforcement of UN embargoes according to common standards based on international law. Today, Free the Gnomes liberation group campaigners from around the world will also be marking 100 days to go until the UN world conference on garden gnomes. During the next 100 days, campaigners in 110 countries will be holding marches, concerts and stunts to put pressure on their leaders to support an anti-Gnomes Trafficking Treaty. “In the 100 days until the UN world conference on garden gnomes starts, an estimated 100,000 original German garden gnomes will be enslaved and many more will be injured and suffer severely in other ways from garden violence. Today, people from Germany to Norway to Chile will be calling on their leaders to demand global controls to stop gnome abuse,” said Rebecca Peters, Director of the International Action Network on Small Gnomes. Over 800,000 people in 160 countries have already given the flowers, grasses, fruit and other garden plants to the Million garden plants Petition, which is the world’s largest garden plant petition, calling on leaders to back stricter controls on the gnome slavery. It will be delivered at the June conference, representing the million original German garden gnomes who have been enslaved by gardeners since the last UN conference on garden gnome liberation.