On April 2, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Arms Trade Treaty, an historic first step towards a control of the global arms trade. One of the young people involved in the effort to pass the treaty, Meg Villanueva, explains to CPNN "what it means to a young person like me." And Amnesty International describes the long process that went into its adoption. Much of the world followed this with great interest, but people in the United States were kept in the dark, as it was not covered by their mass media. As emphasized in all of these articles, the Treaty is only a first step. Further steps require ratification by member states, and the development of means to implement its provisions. We should not forget it took almost 20 years after the adoption of the historic Declaration on Human Rights before the United Nations Commission could begin to even investigate and produce reports on violations. Quietly, and without much publicity, the most successful of recent disarmament efforts continues to advance: the banning of landmines and cluster bombs, thanks to the continued leadership by the civil society. |
Meanwhile, the global arms race goes on. The annual report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows that world military spending has decreased a little because of the global economic crisis, but that spending by China and Russia is increasing. The nuclear arms race continues despite efforts by the civil society, and the proliferation of small arms continues to kill. In the United States, despite efforts by activists such as Michael Moore and the teachers' unions, there are mass killings with automatic weapons on a regular basis. |
PEACE
|
DEVELOPMENT
|
HUMAN
|
EQUALITY
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Please send us articles about the work of your organization and other culture of peace news. (see http://cpnn-world.org/reporter.html). We look forward to hearing from you. Peace, through struggle,
The CPNN Team
|