Jump to content

Global Day of Action on Military Spending

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hmainsbot1 (talk | contribs) at 03:58, 16 August 2012 (AWB general fixes and delink dates per WP:DATELINK, WP:YEARLINK and MOS:UNLINKYEARS using AWB (8097)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Global Day of Action on Military Spending
Observed byworldwide
TypeInternational
SignificanceCivil awareness day
Peace movement day
social development day
DateApril 12 (annually)

April 12 is the Global Day of Action on Military Spending. The date was originally proposed by the International Peace Bureau (IPB) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) with the aim of promoting a common awareness of the problems occasioned by military expenses, suggesting that instead such monies should be used to promote human development.

Thematic

According to the IPB, whole libraries have been written about the use of weapons in armed conflict. Far less has been said about their effects on sustainable development, which is crucial from a human security perspective.

The IPB contrasts the high levels of military spending (estimated by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in 2010 as being US $1.531 billions at worldwide level) against, for instance, the failure to fulfil the pledges of the Millennium Development Goals[1] suggesting that, in general: “Research on the causes of violent conflicts shows a myriad of factors, but does not indicate that building bigger armies is the key to keeping a county safe from warfare. In fact, funds spent on weapons may drain resources from social, political, and economic development that may address root causes of conflict.”[2]

These negative effects include not just the direct ones of money and resources being spent on weapons systems instead of being used for human development but also the associated costs of negative health consequences of research, development, testing and even the safe decommissioning of such weapons, especially nuclear, biological and chemical ones.[3]

As is obvious, the greater the military expenditure, the less there is left to spend on other aspects, both at communal but also at individual level, such as building and maintaining infrastructure, education and health.

In the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed”.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ for instance Larry Elliott : Western countries fail to meet Gleneagles aid pledges The Guardian, 6-04-11
  2. ^ IPB: World Military Expenditures: a compilation of data and facts related to military spending, education and health p 27
  3. ^ IPB: MILITARY TOOLS - THE IMPACT OF WEAPONS ON DEVELOPMENT
  4. ^ Eisenhower, cited by Paul Samuelson in Economics, Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 1980, p 12,
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Global_Day_of_Action_on_Military_Spending&oldid=507634288"