{"id":164408,"date":"2020-07-13T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=164408"},"modified":"2020-07-07T09:43:19","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T08:43:19","slug":"open-letter-on-covid-19-and-humanitarian-disarmament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/07\/open-letter-on-covid-19-and-humanitarian-disarmament\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter on COVID-19 and Humanitarian Disarmament"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

7 Jul 2020 –The IPB and GCOMS have signed the following open letter created by \u2018Humanitarian Disarmament.\u2019 The letter argues that humanitarian disarmament can lead the way to an improved post-pandemic world and calls on states, international organizations, and civil society to follow its lead to create a \u201cnew normal.\u201d It is open for signature by civil society organizations through the form here<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

\u201cThe COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy human and economic toll and shattered lives in many countries. The pandemic has also underscored that global solutions should be used to address global problems, in the current crisis and after it ends. Now is the moment to reflect on the world as it is and consider a better alternative for the future. A \u201cnew normal\u201d should go beyond the field of public health to deal with other matters of ongoing international concern, including the humanitarian consequences of arms and armed conflict as well as peace and security more broadly.<\/p>\n

Humanitarian disarmament, an approach to governing weapons that puts people first, can help lead the way to an improved post-pandemic world. Humanitarian disarmament seeks to prevent and remediate arms-inflicted human suffering and environmental damage through the establishment and implementation of norms. Originating in the mid-1990s, it has generated four international treaties, been recognized with two Nobel Peace Prizes, and inspired ongoing efforts to reduce other arms-related harm.<\/p>\n

Humanitarian disarmament\u2019s twin pillars of prevention and remediation should guide the allocation of resources to advance human security. COVID-19 has caused people to take a fresh look at states\u2019 budgetary choices. To prevent arms-inflicted harm, governments and industry should stop investing in unacceptable weapons as well as strengthen the protection of civilians from the use of weapons and ensure arms transfers comply with international law. The money spent on nuclear arsenals and other military expenses could be better used for humanitarian purposes, such as health care or social spending. To remediate harm, governments should redirect money to programs that assist victims, restore infrastructure, clear explosive ordnance, and clean up conflict-related pollution. Funding the multilateral institutions that set standards on these topics and ensure their implementation would also advance humanitarian disarmament\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n

The principles of inclusion and non-discrimination, which are fundamental to humanitarian disarmament, should inform measures to address the inequalities that COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated. The pandemic has increased the challenges faced by conflict survivors and other persons with disabilities due to the vulnerability of certain groups, their inability to access health care and basic necessities, and restrictions on aid workers. A humanitarian disarmament response would ensure that such inequality and marginalization do not become entrenched. It would also promote more sensitive programs than existed before. States and humanitarian actors should broaden efforts to involve affected individuals and diverse populations in decision-making, gather data disaggregated by gender, age, disability, and ethnicity, and deliver assistance in a non-discriminatory manner.<\/p>\n

Inclusivity and accessibility should underpin diplomacy as it emerges from its current digital state. Since the pandemic led to a global lockdown, in-person disarmament meetings have been canceled, postponed, or held digitally. While face-to-face meetings have important advantages, once they resume, the international community could increase inclusivity and accessibility by permitting meaningful online participation at multilateral meetings. Individuals, including survivors and other persons with disabilities, who are unable to travel due to lack of funding or visa restrictions, could add their voices to critical discussions about setting and operationalizing norms.<\/p>\n

Finally, international cooperation should become a standard way to address global issues, as it is in humanitarian disarmament. Humanitarian disarmament treaties, which mandate international coordination, information exchange, and resource sharing, offer models of cooperation. States should adopt a cooperative approach to addressing the human and environmental harm inflicted by arms and increase their assistance to affected states. Such a cooperative mindset, reinforced by the pandemic experience, should carry over to other multilateral efforts to create, implement, and adapt international norms.<\/p>\n

As the world transitions to a post-pandemic reality, we call on states, international organizations, and civil society to follow humanitarian disarmament\u2019s lead. The international community should prioritize human security, reallocate military spending to humanitarian causes, work to eliminate inequalities, ensure multilateral fora incorporate diverse voices, and bring a cooperative mindset to problems of practice and policy. Together we can reshape the security landscape for the future and help create a new\u2014and improved\u2014\u201cnormal.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n

This letter is also available in Spanish<\/a> and French<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

____________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The <\/em>International Peace Bureau is dedicated to the vision of a World without War. Our current main program centers on Disarmament for Sustainable Development<\/a><\/strong> and within this, our focus is mainly on the reallocation of military expenditure<\/a>. <\/strong>We are a Nobel Peace Laureate<\/strong> (1910); over the years, 13 of our officers have been recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. We believe that by reducing funding for the military sector, significant amounts of money could be released for social projects, domestically or abroad, which could lead to the fulfillment of real human needs and the protection of the environment. At the same time, we support a range of disarmament campaigns and supply data on the economic dimensions of weapons and conflicts. Our campaigning work on nuclear disarmament began already in the 1980s. Our 300 member organizations in 70 countries, together with individual members, form a global network, bringing together knowledge and campaigning experience in a common cause.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original – ipb.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7 Jul 2020 -The IPB and GCOMS have signed the following open letter arguing that humanitarian disarmament can lead the way to an improved post-pandemic world and calls on states, international organizations, and civil society to follow its lead to create a \u201cnew normal.\u201d It is open for signature by civil society organizations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":164410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[1817,2009,1188,1104,1829,1868,1253,1938,1074,1864,1073],"class_list":["post-164408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nobel-laureates","tag-anti-militarism","tag-anti-war","tag-arms-race","tag-arms-trade","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-demilitarization","tag-international-peace-bureau-ipb","tag-nobel-peace-prize","tag-pandemic","tag-weapons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}