Annie Lennox has added her voice to a campaign demanding stronger regulation of the international arms trade.

The Aberdeen-born singer has signed her name to a letter calling for an Arms Trade Treaty as the UN prepares for a month of negotiations.

Representatives from more than 190 governments meet in New York on Monday for the first day of talks on a treaty which will control the supply of weapons, ammunition and armaments.

David Grimason, from Edinburgh, whose two-year-old son was killed by an illegal gun while on holiday in Turkey, is attending the talks and will attend Monday's opening day.

As the talks get underway, more than 30 high-profile Oxfam and Amnesty International supporters have urged governments to deliver a treaty that helps protect human rights by preventing the flow of arms to irresponsible users.

They include journalist Paul Conroy, the British war photographer injured in the mortar attack that killed Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, in Syria, earlier this year.

The letter has been sent to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, and features the signatures of dozens of international stars including Ms Lennox, Kevin Spacey, Scarlett Johansson, Eddie Izzard and Vivienne Westwood.

It states: "Every year an average of two bullets for every person on this planet is produced. With so few global rules governing the arms trade, no one really knows where all those bullets will end up – or whose lives they will tear apart.

"Under the current system, there are less global controls on the sales of ammunition and guns than on bananas and bottled water. It’s a ridiculous situation.

"We urge governments to step forward and deliver a robust, effective treaty that protects human rights. A treaty that puts a stop to the needless deaths and injuries which occur every day as a result of armed violence and conflict. The decisions taken around this treaty really are a matter of life and death."

Anna Macdonald, Oxfam’s Head of Control Arms, said: "This is a critical moment. The world has never before agreed to have a set of international rules on the arms trade. This is a chance of a lifetime, a chance of a generation, to make a difference by stopping the trade flows of arms going into the wrong hands."