Some ARC Supported Campaigns

ARC supports the campaigns of many of our members and resolution endorsers.

However, the following are among the current campaigns and initiatives we also support.

We encourage you to support them also.

 
Campaign / Initiative More Info
Millennium Development Goals www.un.org/millenniumgoals , www.millenniumcampaign.org
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education - all by the target date of 2015. They form a blueprint agreed by all of the world's countries and all the leading development institutions.

1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2 Achieve universal primary education.
3 Promote gender equality and empower women.
4 Reduce child mortality.
5 Improve maternal health.
6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7 Ensure environmental sustainability
8 Develop a global partnership for development
Sustainable Disarmament For Sustainable Development http://www.ipb.org

http://disarmament.un.org/cab/d&d.html

The connections between disarmament and   development are not hard to see. No one can learn of the increase in annual   world military spending to $1000 billion (SIPRI, 2004 figures) without   imagining how this vast treasury could be used differently: to save lives,   develop poor communities, protect the environment, promote renewable energy   sources and much more.   
  And at the same time we see how the impact of weapons of   all kinds - from depleted uranium and dioxin poisoning to anti-personnel   landmines, cluster munitions and small arms - harm communities in conflict   zones, often decades after the hostilities are over.     
  Finally there is a complex relationship between poverty,   violence, weaponry, terrorism and conflict that can be summed in one word:   security. The underlying issue in all these fields is how to ensure democratic,   inclusive forms of sustainable development that can help reduce our resort to   armaments.
From www.ipb.org

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In 2005 the World Council of Churches – with a similar agenda to IPB – produced: World Military Expenditures; a compilation of data and facts related to military spending, education and health – which concentrates on the financial burden of militarism and the relationship between military spending, social spending and human well being.

Link: Click HERE

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Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on the relationship between disarmament and development
A 59 119 - 23 June 2004  A/59/119

The report makes numerous recommendations. Notably, it calls for

  • mainstreaming the disarmament-development relationship;
  • raising awareness of this relationship within the international community;
  • engaging in a wide range of conflict-prevention measures, including those related to illicit small arms and light weapons;
  • promoting security through greater openness, transparency and confidence;
  • and strengthening further the role of the United Nations and other international institutions, as well as the donor community, towards these ends.

    • The recommendations also include specific topics for further research by specialized United Nations bodies and non-governmental organizations in order to enhance understanding of the relationship between disarmament and development.

    4 Disarmament and development are two of the international community’s most important tools for building a world free from want and fear. By controlling or reducing the availability or use of the implements of armed violence and armed conflict,
    disarmament policies and programmes can facilitate

  • a decrease in military expenditure,
  • defuse tensions and encourage trust in inter-State and intra-State relations,
  • help to impede the development of and spending on new weapons and diminish the risk,
  • incidence and severity of armed conflict and armed violence,

    • thus improving stability and freeing resources for other activities, such as economic and social development.

    At the same time,

  • by promoting economic and social progress
  • and by generating opportunities for people,

    • development policies and programmes can contribute to
  • eradicating poverty,
  • promoting economic growth
  • and stabilizing economies and States,

    • thereby creating conditions of increased security and well being. Security and stability serve as the foundation for disarmament and development.
    Make Poverty History http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/
    "MakePovertyHistory is a unique UK alliance of charities, trade unions, campaigning groups and celebrities who are mobilising around key opportunities in 2005 to drive forward the struggle against poverty and injustice. … MakePovertyHistory urges the government and international decision makers to rise to the challenge of 2005. We are calling for urgent and meaningful policy change on three critical and inextricably linked areas: trade, debt and aid. "
    Arms Trade Treaty http://disarmament2.un.org/
    http://lcil.law.cam.ac.uk/projects/ATT-%20May_2004.pdf

    http://www.saferworld.co.uk

    "We have global, legally-binding treaties covering chemical, biological and nuclear weapons - and global mechanisms to implement them. Yet we still have no such legally-binding international treaty on conventional arms exports - weapons which per item are plainly less lethal than a nuclear or chemical bomb, but which account today for far more misery and destruction across the world. That is a gap which I want the international community to fill.

    I therefore announced last September that the UK would work with others to secure an International Arms Trade Treaty. The final shape of the Treaty will of course depend on the outcome of negotiations - which are bound to take time." Jack Straw 'SECURING A GLOBAL ARMS TRADE TREATY' (15/03/05)
    Control Arms http://www.controlarms.org/
    "For many years, in our work around the world, Oxfam, Amnesty International, and IANSA have witnessed the human cost of arms abuses and campaigned for tougher arms controls. But now the situation is critical

    The global misuse of arms has reached crisis point.

    The flow of arms to those who openly flaunt international human rights and humanitarian laws is being ignored by many governments and companies. Guns especially have never been so easy obtain. Their increased availability threatens life and liberty in communities and cities around the world. Including yours.

    The time to act is now; face up to the arms crisis!
    Today, arms are so prevalent, for example it is estimated that there is one gun for every 10 people on the planet – men, women, and children.

    "…the excessive accumulation and illicit trade of small arms is threatening international peace and security, dashing hopes for social and economic development, and jeopardising prospects for democracy and human rights."

    And it’s not just Oxfam, Amnesty International, and IANSA who believe that. These words were spoken in 2002 by UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan."
    Peace Building Commission http://www.un.org/largerfreedom
    "I therefore propose to Member States that they create an intergovernmental Peacebuilding Commission, as well as a Peacebuilding Support Office within the United Nations Secretariat, to achieve this end.

    115. A Peacebuilding Commission could perform the following functions: in the immediate aftermath of war, improve United Nations planning for sustained recovery, focusing on early efforts to establish the necessary institutions; help to ensure predictable financing for early recovery activities, in part by providing an overview of assessed, voluntary and standing funding mechanisms; improve the coordination of the many post-conflict activities of the United Nations funds, programmes and agencies; provide a forum in which the United Nations, major bilateral donors, troop contributors, relevant regional actors and organizations, the international financial institutions and the national or transitional Government of the country concerned can share information about their respective post-conflict recovery strategies, in the interests of greater coherence; periodically review progress towards medium-term recovery goals; and extend the period of political attention to post-conflict recovery. I do not believe that such a body should have an early warning or monitoring function, but it would be valuable if Member States could at any stage make use of the Peacebuilding Commission's advice and could request assistance from a standing fund for peacebuilding to build their domestic institutions for reducing conflict, including through strengthening the rule-of-law institutions. "

    Kofi Annan In larger Freedom 2005
    Civil Society participation in the UN www.un.org/reform/panel.htm.

    http://www.ungalink.org.uk

    Public opinion has become a key factor influencing intergovernmental and governmental policies and actions. The involvement of a diverse range of actors, including those from civil society and the private sector, as well as local authorities and parliamentarians, is not only essential for effective action on global priorities but is also a protection against further erosion of multilateralism. This presents an opportunity as well as a challenge to the United Nations: the opportunity to harness new capacities and diverse experience to address some of the most exacting challenges the world faces today and the challenge of balancing its unique intergovernmental characteristic with being open to work with new actors in a profound way.

    Over the years, the relationship of the United Nations to civil society has strengthened and multiplied. The Secretary-General’s personal leadership has been a major factor in this development. However, at the same time difficulties and tensions have arisen, particularly in deliberative processes. Governments do not always welcome sharing what has traditionally been their preserve. Many increasingly challenge the numbers and motives of civil society organizations in the United Nations — questioning their representivity, legitimacy, integrity or accountability. Developing country Governments sometimes regard civil society organizations as pushing a "Northern agenda" through the back door. At the same time, many in civil society are becoming frustrated; they can speak in the United Nations but feel they are not heard and that their participation has little impact on outcomes.

    Mindful of both the immense strengths of civil society and the stones in the road, the Secretary-General made clear that improving United Nations–civil society relations was an important element of his reform agenda, set out in his 2002 report on further reforms (A/57/387 and Corr.1). In February 2003, he established the Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations–Civil Society Relations, chaired by Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

    The General Assembly should include civil society organizations more regularly in its affairs, since it no longer makes sense to restrict their involvement in the intergovernmental process to the Economic and Social Council.
    World Social Forum http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/index.php
    The World Social Forum is an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and interlinking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neo-liberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a planetary society directed towards fruitful relationships among Mankind and between it and the Earth

    The World Social Forum is a process that encourages its participant organisations and movements to situate their actions, from the local level to the national level and seeking active participation in international contexts, as issues of planetary citizenship, and to introduce onto the global agenda the change-inducing practices that they are experimenting in building a new world in solidarity.
    World-Campaign for in-depth reform of the international Institutions http://www.reformcampaign.net
    See Manifesto for In-Depth Reform of the System of International Institutions

    The number of actors in world civil society in response to the serious problems the world faces today. As part of it, we claim our democratic right to take part in the global decisions that affect our lives.

    The campaign's objective is to spark off a process leading to the reform of the system of international institutions with the participation of all world actors and moving towards a system of global democratic governance that can help us to build a better world.
    International Alliance Against Hunger http://www.iaahp.net/
    The International Alliance Against Hunger is a voluntary association of local, national and international institutions and organizations with a common mission – to eradicate world hunger and poverty through a combination of political will and practical action. The International Alliance also supports individual countries in setting up National Alliances that will focus on their specific needs.

    For decades, a range of extremely qualified and dedicated organizations have waged anti-hunger campaigns on many levels and from many angles, with notable successes in garnering support at policy levels and in improving nutrition and income at individual levels. The Alliance Against Hunger is not one more organization on that list.

    The Alliance exists to provide a forum for bringing together all the levels and all the angles of on-going activities, connecting the dots to create a global picture that shows the fight against hunger is more than a poster slogan. It is tens of thousands of people working to help millions more. The International Alliance Against Hunger offers a united front to that fight.
    Departments of Peace http://www.departmentofpeacecanada.com/

    http://www.thepeacealliance.org/main.htm

    http://www.ministryforpeace.org.uk/

    There is a rapidly growing international movement to establish Departments of Peace or Ministries for Peace in countries around the world with the goal of supporting the emergence of a culture of peace in those countries, a culture where nonviolence is an organising principle of society
       

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