The G8 nations are undermining their commitment to human rights and the world's poor by continuing to sell weapons to brutal regimes, according to a new report published by Amnesty International and Oxfam.

The two charities and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) used a 17-tonne tank to deliver their report to the embassies of the G8 group of industrialised nations in London today.

The foreign ministers of the G8 nations meet in London tomorrow to discuss aid to Africa and a possible treaty to ban the international trade of conventional weapons.

The report claims that the G8 nations are responsible for more than 80 per cent of the world's arm exports and sell weapons that have ended up in the service of the ruling regimes of Sudan, Burma, the Republic of Congo, Colombia and the Philippines.

Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, said that the sales stood uneasily next to the more humanitarian intentions of G8 governments:

"How can G8 commitments to end poverty and injustice be taken seriously if some of the very same governments are undermining peace and stability by deliberately approving arms transfers to repressive regimes, regions of extreme conflict or countries who can ill-afford them?" Ms Khan asked.

The report accuses the G8 nations -- America, Britain, Italy, France, Japan, Germany, Canada and Russia -- of allowing companies to use legal loopholes to furnish weapons to some of the world's most authoritarian regimes.

According to the report, British companies make torture equipment and use "open licences" to make questionable exports; France violates arms embargoes to Burma and Sudan; Canadian military equipment finds its way to Saudi Arabia; Russia sells combat aircraft to Uganda; and America provides weapons to Pakistan, Israel and Nepal, all of which have troubling human rights records.

"In view of the massive loss of life and destruction of property and livelihood's fuelled by irresponsible arms transfers, the G8 must turn rhetoric into reality and push for negotiations to start on an Arms Trade Treaty by 2006," said Rebecca Peters, director of IANSA.

Today's report comes three weeks after a study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that global military spending topped $1 trillion for the first time in 2004. According to the study, the world spent $162 on weapons for each person alive last year.

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