My television alter ago, Prime Suspect's detective chief inspector Jane Tennison, has to face violent lawlessness, but in the end, the evildoers are unmasked, justice done and order restored. In the real world, it is not so simple. Violence is not always controlled by the law. Justice is not always done. This year, about 500,000 people will die from armed violence - one a minute.
They are victims of a dangerously unregulated global trade in arms. An incredible 88 per cent of the world's arms are supplied by the permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, Britain, Russia, France and China. More than two-thirds of the value of all arms are sold to Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
With the value of global, authorized, arms exports estimated at $21-billion (U.S.) per year, Britain and other arms exporters are making massive amounts of money out of this deadly trade.
Britain and other governments deny accountability for the death and suffering caused by the weapons trade, claiming they only export to responsible arms users. They blame illegal users. Yet it is estimated that 80-90 per cent of all illegal small arms are initially manufactured and traded legally. Somehow, many weapons end up in the wrong hands, to fuel conflict and abuse in the most unstable areas of the world.
I have seen firsthand the result of this trade, and the terrible damage weapons can do. I visited South Africa with Oxfam and met primary school children such as Lydia, whose mother was shot dead in a car by unknown attackers. Another women, Cecilia, told me how she was raped, shot and blinded in the eye. Her son, who was sleeping next to her when she was attacked, was also shot. He survived.
Lydia and Cecilia's sufferings are repeated in dozens of other countries, which are awash with weapons. They seep through porous, unguarded borders on every continent every year. There are a staggering 639 million small arms in the world, or one for every 10 people.
The onus to control the proliferation of weapons lies with all governments that export or re-export arms. The world's most powerful governments, the five key members of the UN Security Council, which are also the world's biggest arms suppliers, must therefore shoulder much of the responsibility.
These rich governments are constantly urging developing countries to become less reliant on aid, and to become accountable for improving their own regional security, economies, education and health. Yet, in what can only be seen as enormous hypocrisy, the very countries that are urging self-reliance are helping to fuel the conflicts that destroy people's livelihoods, and trap countries in a cycle of violence and poverty.
In the last four years, Britain, France and the United States earned more income from arms exports to Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America than they provided in aid.
The hypocrisy cannot go on. The governments of wealthy countries must admit the role they play in allowing the deadly, global trade in arms to go unchecked. Organizations such as Oxfam and Amnesty International say that an international regulation in the form of an arms-trade treaty is urgently needed to stop the flow of arms to abusers. The treaty must be agreed by governments around the world and provide a universal standard for all arms exporters to comply with.
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. The calendar became a worldwide sensation; the story became the film Calendar Girls, in which I starred. This small group of women have earned more than $1-million for leukemia research and raised the profile of the disease internationally.
These women demonstrate to the rest of us 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 controls, but if enough people stand up and demand an end to the deadly global trade in arms, our governments, and others around the world, must listen.
Yesterday, Amnesty International, Oxfam and IANSA (the International Action Network on Small Arms -- a group of more than 500 organizations), joined together to launch the Control Arms 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 around the world to demand their leaders take action.
Dame Helen Mirren, who has just finished filming her sixth series of Prime Suspect, is an ambassador for Oxfam on conflict and has represented Oxfam at the United Nations in New York.
