Talk:Campaign Against Arms Trade

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Press release?[edit]

This article reads like a press release for the profiled group, Campaign Against Arms Trade, and should probably be edited to read in a more neutral manner.

Dox47 (talk) 06:25, 5 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As per Template:POV-check, can you point to specific issues within the page? Most of the content looks reasonably toned-down to me. Tricky thing to get right for an article on a single issue campaign.--Alastair Rae (talk) 17:20, 5 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Mercenaries

Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the use of 'private military contractors', once known as mercenaries, has become standard practice for countries such as the UK and the US. Private military companies have become big business, with an estimated turnover world wide of $100 billion, and their use is set to rise. [31]

CAAT is grateful for the opportunity presented by the UK Government's Green Paper of 2002 on Private Military Companies. It has prompted a useful debate on the privatisation of a whole range of military services which has been taking place with little comment, high profile cases such as Sandline in Sierra Leone notwithstanding. [32]

CAAT seeks an end to all mercenary activities. If this cannot be achieved at this point, the following controls are minimum immediate requirements: 

   * a ban on all combat activities
   * all dealings between Government departments and agencies and the military companies, other than opeational details, to bein the public domain
   * any contract entered into between a military company and a foreign government to stipulate a cash fee and no other benefit. No other business sharing directors or offices with the providers of security should be allowed to have any dealings with the foreign government concerned for a period of, say, five years. The ownership of the military companies should be made transparent.
   * companies to be made responsible under UK law for any breaches of human rights or the laws of war that may be committed by their employees

CAAT is also committed to publishing research on the issue in order to raise public awareness of the ever increasing role mercenaries play in modern conflict zones


This seems to take the equation of military contractors with mercenaries as a forgone conclusion, and the use of phrases such as "CAAT is grateful for..." makes it appear that the article is written from the perspective of CAAT. This creates the impression that Wikipedia is tacitly endorsing this organization, etc. Also, several spelling errors.


Clean Investment Campaign

From universities to local authorities CAAT has consistently sought to highlight areas where public bodies hold shares in companies trading in arms. On 9 July CAAT released research that 75 local authorities in the UK held such investments through their pension funds. [24] It has argued that many council employees reject the notion that they should help to prop up such companies and continues to advocate a more ethical investment strategy. [25]

The long standing Clean Investment campaign has had many successes in the past, one of the most significant occurring in 2001. In response to pressure from the CAAT Christian Network the Church of England redefined its investment criteria and confirmed it will no longer invest in arms companies. [26] Despite excluding arms company holdings, the Church remained, in 2005, the second best performer of more than 1,000 funds over the previous decade. [27]

Furthermore, from 2005 the CAAT Universities Network has met with considerable success in its campaign to advocate ethical investment across the UK. A report entitled 'Study War No More' has highlighted military funding and involvement within 26 British universities. [28] CAAT facilitates research into the details of university investment portfolios which has helped students to mount their own campaigns for clean investment. [29] This has resulted in many universities divesting their shares in the arms industry, whilst many more campuses continue to campaign for similar action to be taken.


Again, language is more evocative of a brochure for CAAT than an encyclopedia entry, seems to be celebrating the groups "successes" more that conveying information.

Criticisms

CAAT has been criticised by some activists and campaigners, who suggest that media engagement and Parliamentary lobbying are passive mediums which somehow compromise the credibility and legitimacy of the organisation. [34] In answer to this, CAAT would draw attention to its recent successes, which have proved the effectiveness of a multi-faceted campaign strategy that utilises a variety of complementary approaches to achieve results. Additionally, involvement in CAAT's activities, demonstrations and protests is conditional on accepting the need to remain non-violent throughout.


Deflecting criticism in this section furthers the impression that this article was written by someone affiliated by this group with the purpose of presenting it in the best possible light, and is not consistent with the NPOV.

Dox47 (talk) 07:36, 6 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You could always edit it yourself since you seem to know your way around already. At least fix any spelling mistooks you see.
--Alastair Rae (talk) 15:58, 7 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

sources of funding[edit]

I think that we all have a right to know how this group is funded and what vested interests lie behind them. Additionally, does their self description as a 'Non Government Organisation' seek to mislead visitors to this page or to mis-represent themselves. For example, what is the involvement of the extreme left (or any extremist group)?Miletus (talk) 19:44, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

According to CAAT's website, 80% of its funding comes from "concerned individuals who share our vision of ending the international arms trade"[1], and the site gives information about CAAT's other sources of funding. And unless you think they they are secretly controlled by a government, I don't see how the description of CAAT as an NGO is misleading. (Full disclosure: I know some members of the CAAT steering committee, and have been involved in CAAT's activities, e.g. protests against the DSEi arms fair.)
Are your concerns something that you think should be included in the Wikipedia article? If so, we would need to be able to cite reliable sources for anything about CAAT's funding, or about the involvement of other groups. -- AJR | Talk 01:23, 8 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Added NPOV template[edit]

This page reads variously like a press release, pamphlet, editorial or outright advertisement and all from the POV of the organization in question. The language has not even been corrected, in terms of person of the verb, in several places and spelling errors found also in material on their site suggest it was literally copy-pasted by either a member of CAAT or someone who sympathizes with their point of view.

Regardless of the validity of their POV, it's not Wikipedia's role to provide apparent authority to it. This article needs to be heavily edited and some material added from opposing POVs or else it needs to be edite back to little more than basic facts about the organization, such as when it was founded, notable media mentions and so on. It cannot continue to serve as a more visible platform for their rhetoric. One small example: the article describes "Farnborough International" as an 'Arms Fair'; it's not, it is a world renowned Airshow and the wikipedia article on it can be found here https://www.qudswiki.org/?query=Farnborough_Airshow 69.91.64.208 (talk) 22:09, 5 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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