Draft UN resolution on arms control welcomed, but inclusion of human rights urged
-10/10/0
Draft UN resolution on arms control welcomed, but inclusion of human rights urged
-10/10/06
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has welcomed a draft resolution at the United Nations addressing arms control, but urged the inclusion of a reference to human rights.
In a letter congratulating the seven sponsoring states – Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Switzerland and the UK – WCC general secretary, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, argued for “a comprehensive and legally binding treaty” ensuring that arms transfers were “limited and licensed as well as lawful”, that “transfers to the black market” are stopped, and that suppliers are made “partially liable for human rights violations committed with their products”.
When it comes to human rights, Kobia said, concern for the treaty’s ultimate beneficiaries – the people it must protect – makes a inclusion of “international human rights law” in the draft resolution a must.
The WCC general secretary’s letter emphasizes the urgency of global arms control while “every week, in every region, the proliferation of weapons causes violent deaths, acute suffering and an unconscionable diversion of resources from things that make for peace”.
According to the UN general secretary, more than 90 per cent of armed conflicts in the 1990s took place within rather than between states. Violent crime in some industrialized cities in the world increased and the results were similar to a war-torn society. During that period, an estimated six million civilians were killed in conflict, constituting between 30 and 90 per cent of all conflict-related fatalities.
The year 2001 also marked a watershed in the global effort to understand the problems caused by the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, and to work to create solutions. This was manifested in the 2001 UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, an unprecedented high-level effort to achieve international agreement on the nature of the problem and the most important measures to deal with its various dimensions.
In the wake of September 11 and the renewed cycle of violence it spawned, it was considered even more critical to maintain a focus on the small arms problem.
In addition to the loss of human life, and the destruction of physical and social infrastructure that arms cause, light weapons are also considered to heighten tensions and insecurities by making recourse to arms more likely. They also intensify and prolonge conflicts, undermining conflict resolution and development efforts.
The illicit trade in light weapons is also often associated with other criminal activities, such as terrorism, money laundering, and the trafficking of drugs and other black-market commodities.
Churches are often left to deal with the consequences of small arms and light weapons. In both the developed and in the developing world, churches are often the first point of contact for individuals who have suffered from the adverse consequences of light weapons proliferation.
The full text of Dr Kobia’s 5 October letter to the Geneva disarmament
ambassadors of the draft resolution’s sponsoring states is available on the
WCC website.
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Draft UN resolution on arms control welcomed, but inclusion of human rights urged
-10/10/06
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has welcomed a draft resolution at the United Nations addressing arms control, but urged the inclusion of a reference to human rights.
In a letter congratulating the seven sponsoring states – Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Switzerland and the UK – WCC general secretary, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, argued for “a comprehensive and legally binding treaty” ensuring that arms transfers were “limited and licensed as well as lawful”, that “transfers to the black market” are stopped, and that suppliers are made “partially liable for human rights violations committed with their products”.
When it comes to human rights, Kobia said, concern for the treaty’s ultimate beneficiaries – the people it must protect – makes a inclusion of “international human rights law” in the draft resolution a must.
The WCC general secretary’s letter emphasizes the urgency of global arms control while “every week, in every region, the proliferation of weapons causes violent deaths, acute suffering and an unconscionable diversion of resources from things that make for peace”.
According to the UN general secretary, more than 90 per cent of armed conflicts in the 1990s took place within rather than between states. Violent crime in some industrialized cities in the world increased and the results were similar to a war-torn society. During that period, an estimated six million civilians were killed in conflict, constituting between 30 and 90 per cent of all conflict-related fatalities.
The year 2001 also marked a watershed in the global effort to understand the problems caused by the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, and to work to create solutions. This was manifested in the 2001 UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, an unprecedented high-level effort to achieve international agreement on the nature of the problem and the most important measures to deal with its various dimensions.
In the wake of September 11 and the renewed cycle of violence it spawned, it was considered even more critical to maintain a focus on the small arms problem.
In addition to the loss of human life, and the destruction of physical and social infrastructure that arms cause, light weapons are also considered to heighten tensions and insecurities by making recourse to arms more likely. They also intensify and prolonge conflicts, undermining conflict resolution and development efforts.
The illicit trade in light weapons is also often associated with other criminal activities, such as terrorism, money laundering, and the trafficking of drugs and other black-market commodities.
Churches are often left to deal with the consequences of small arms and light weapons. In both the developed and in the developing world, churches are often the first point of contact for individuals who have suffered from the adverse consequences of light weapons proliferation.
The full text of Dr Kobia’s 5 October letter to the Geneva disarmament
ambassadors of the draft resolution’s sponsoring states is available on the
WCC website.
[Also on Ekklesia: WCC
asks Israel to recognize head of Orthodox Church of Jerusalem
03/10/06; World
churches leader asks for peaceful response to North Korean nuclear
test 09/10/06; WCC
offers pastoral support to Cubans imprisoned by the USA 30/09/06;
Middle
East peace needs religious commitment, says WCC leader 02/09/06;
WCC
to encourage churches’ role in the Middle East 28/08/06; World
Council of Churches and Vatican to agree code on religious
conversion;End
this blind faith in violence, says WCC leader; Churches
call on Indonesian Government to address Malukus violence; Churches
urge Sudan government to end hostilities; WCC
calls for freeing of Christian peace workers; WCC
urges churches to support Middle East appeals; World
church leaders strongly condemn Middle East violence; Ecumenists
seek to recover evangelistic emphasis; World
Mission Conference makes history; WCC
has Good News to share, say mission leaders]