Weapons vs People

An Ugly Paradox
Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan

The World Disarmament Week (Oct 24 to 30) was marked out by the United Nations (UN) in the year 1978 with the declared objective of controlling, reducing, limiting and abolishing of weapons. The week commences with the UN Day, i.e., Oct 24, and over the week the UN is mandated to raise awareness among the public and Governments to recognize disarmament as the key for a peaceful and sustainable world. It educates people at large about the dangers of arms race, its adverse impact on economy, public health, and environment. But, has the UN succeeded in the pursuit of disarmament?

The answer to this question is largely NO. In 2000, the UN disarmament exhibit showcased an inverted triangle called Overspending on Weapons vs People. This inverted triangle depicted the misplaced emphasis where global priorities are biased towards arms and ammunitions. The top part of the triangle showed annual military world expenses which was about $800 billion. The bottom part, which was about one-fourth of the top, constituted all humanitarian and developmental expenses like provision of shelter, clean energy services, water, health care, elimination of starvation and illiteracy, prevention of ozone depletion, deforestation, global warming, and acid rain, stabilization of population and strengthening of democratic instructions. As per Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), by 2010 the world annual military expenditure has more than doubled to reach $1623 billion. By the latest SIPRI statistics, the largest five military spenders are the USA ($711 b.), China ($143 b.), Russia ($71.9 b.), the UK ($62.7 b.), and France ($62.5 b.). These countries are none other than the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and they together account for 65% of the total global military expenditure. India, with a military spending of $48.9 billion has occupied the seventh position among all countries. In the last three years (2008-2011), India has moved from the tenth to the seventh position.

In the meantime, India has also acquired a distinction of world's largest arms importer with almost 12% of the global share. This is a dubious distinction as India got independence 65 years back through the path of Gandhi's non-violence. More so, India occupies 134th rank among 187 countries in human development index (HDI) as per the latest human development report of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The low HDI rank indicates India needs to give priority to developmental needs for ensuring a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living to all its citizens. Like India, Pakistan also has a poor HDI rank (145th); however it is the third in arms import with 5.6% of world share. Similarly Morocco has a HDI rank of 130, yet fourth in arms import. So, if these relatively less developed economies are importing arms, it is worthwhile to see which countries are exporting.

Among the top six arms exporters, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council find their place. USA has a 33% global share in arms export, followed by Russia (26%). France, China and UK respectively have global shares of 8.1, 4.5 and 3.6% in arms export. So, it is true that the UN Security Council members are producing arms more than they need for domestic purpose and exporting the surplus to other countries for business interests. Here comes the conflict of interest between the UN's agenda and the trade agendas of the individual countries controlling the UN. On one hand the UN Security Council members are to strive for a united and peaceful world, but on the other hand a more divided, disturbed, violent, and war-prone world suits to their military and commercial interests. As UN Security Council permanent members, these countries are supposed to be 'guardians of peace'. But, with highest defense budgets and largest arms exports, these countries are also 'promoters of war'. This is perhaps the ugliest paradox of the era. Under this paradox, disarmament is going to remain as a distant dream. The 'goal' of disarmament can be achieved only by 'means' of disarmament. Otherwise, Disarmament Week will remain as a symbolic gesture—an annual ritual of the UN forever.

Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 21, Dec 2-8, 2012

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