September 17, 2009
NGO’s demand a reform of the United Nations Security Council to watch disarmament.
NGOs urge the United Nations Security Council to control irregularities on disarmament.
EFE / Mario Guzmán
• The conference asks for a "more representative" Security Council.
• United States president Barack Obama will attend Council meetings.
• The world's largest weapon producers are the Council permanent members.
RTVE.ES / AGENCIES MEXICO
The statement of the 62nd Conference of the Department of Public Information of the UN and NGOs called for a reform of the Security Council to respond more effectively to violations of international disarmament treaties.
The Conference Chairman, Charles Hitchcock, from NGO Peace Action International, read, at the end of this three-day meeting held in Mexico City, a document which, among other things, urges the UN to make the Council "more representative ".
The point at issue calls for a reform of the highest body of the United Nations, so more opinions can be heard to increase sensitivity to global disarmament.
The Sept. 24th Council meeting to be attended by U.S. President, Barack Obama, would be the time to lay the groundwork for this, added the statement.
In the conference closing speeches, Costa Rican activist Roberto Zamora, from Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts, had already advocated this action.
The major weapon producers
Zamora argued that the race for global disarmament does not benefit from the fact that members of the Security Council of the UN are "the largest producers" of weapons in the world, referring to its five permanent members: U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France.
The activist also warned that the companies’ trend of looking for cheap markets to manufacture their products is hitting the technology companies that make weapons; he mentioned his own country, Costa Rica, where U.S. firms have already bought land [for this purpose].
The consensus statement has also aimed towards enforcement of the banning nuclear testing, material production for nuclear weapons, and transfers of weapons that violate international law.
Also in the field of conventional weapons, it has been asked to regulate and restrict their international trade as well as to stop their proliferation among civilians.
1,000 deaths a day by handguns
The UN said 1,000 people die and 3,000 are injured each day by the use of handguns. It has also called for redirecting military budgets towards social ends.
The Conference also concluded with the hope that the period between 2010 and 2020 be declared the International Decade for global disarmament.
The president of Mayors for Peace Tadatoshi Akiba, mayor of Hiroshima, expressed his wish to achieve this goal and celebrate with the Olympic Games in their city and in Nagasaki, both a proof of the devastation atomic weapons can cause. The organization brings together 3105 cities worldwide, representing about 600 million people. His goal is to reach 5,000 cities and 1,000 million people.
Obama, the hope
The shadow of U.S. President Barack Obama has flown behind the closing stage and final speeches of the meeting; [he] is seen as a one of the main keys to progress in disarmament.
For three days the Conference has brought together 1,300 participants from over fifty countries, and has counted on its opening with the assistance of the UN secretary general, South Korean Ban Ki-moon. The head of the United Nations has considered as possible a world without nuclear weapons (of which there are 20,000 in the whole planet) and pointed out that disarmament is back on the global agenda.
Mexico is the second headquarters outside New York for this conference sponsored by the United Nations and celebrated in Paris last year.
