Implement Article 26 of the UN Charter

Action for UN Renewal is leading a campaign to encourage the United Nations to 'Implement Article 26 of the UN Charter' by reducing the diversion for armaments of the world's human and economic resources by a set percentage each year. The campaign, which is open to individuals and organisations, will be called the Arms Reduction Coalition (ARC). Action for UN Renewal invites you to Join with us in this important initiative.

Essentially the proposal is for all the Member States of the UN to make a legally binding commitment to reduce the amount of the world's human and economic resources diverted to armaments by a small (one to five) agreed percentage each year. The resources saved can be used for poverty reduction, sustainable development. peaceful resolution of conflict systems, maintaining the environment etc. A strong emphasis is placed on implementation; requiring Members to have systems in place so that their resource figures can be independently verified / audited each year. Members will be required to recommit every ten to twenty years, so that if the proposal does not work they can revert back to spending the world's precious resources making things to kill people.

We hope to publish comments / papers and keep you informed on the progress of the proposal in future. Support, comments and input for you and all interested parties are welcomed so that the proposal can be evaluated, analysed, debated, refined and a consensus reached before submission to the United Nations General Assembly.

A formal launch meeting was be held   on 7^th May 2002, in the House of Commons, Room 9, London, UK. The meeting was be chaired by Jeremy Corbyn MP. Speakers Barry Coates (Director of World Development Movement), Kate Hudson (Chair of London CND), Helen Hughes (United Nations Association Disarmament Officer), Liz Hutchins (NUS and Student CND) and Martin Hogbin (Coordinator of Campaign Against the Arms Trade). A report of the meeting can be found in our June 2002 Newsletter.

• Arms Reduction Coalition Leaflet
• Arms Reduction Coalition Petition
• The Proposal
• Background to the Proposal
• Comments on the Proposal
• Quotes related to UN and armaments
• Links to some relevant sites
• ARC Arms Statistics Links
• Example Calculations of Diverting Financial resources from Arms

Do  email us at info@arcuk.org, to have your say on

• What Percentage the amount of resources spent on arms by should be reduced by?

  • Over How Many Years?

    • What should resource save be spent on? What percentages?

      e.g. % on State's own programmes,

      % on poverty reduction,

      % on sustainable development,

      % on conflict prevention,

      % on peaceful resolution of conflict,

      % on protecting the vulnerable,

      % on maintaining the environment;

      % on effective and efficient implementation of the legally binding Instrument

  Note: Estimated amount required to implement the Millennium Development Goals over 15 years $750 bn ,  Amount that will be spent on arms over same 15 years $12,000 bn. Current projections MDGs underfunded, targets not met, many will die; arms spending increased, resources wasted, terror increased, many will die.

        Remember the next time you are told there are no resources (funds) for schools, health care etc; quote the amounts spent on arms.

 Speeches and Articles:

• • Amnesty's ARC
    Karl Miller,  look at the role of Acdemia in arms research ("I think academia should consider debating how much of its resources are spent on thinking up and researching things to kill people, while teaching the next generation.") and suggests a role for Amnesty in ARC's campign ("By setting the standards on how Governments should treat ARC's supporters; by monitoring and reporting Governments abuses of ARC's supporters both before and after the ARC treaty has been ratified."). Text of speech extract of whic delivered to Sheffield University's Amnesty Group, 23 October 03.
    

  • A Few Biblical Verses
    A few verses from the bible. Please suggest more from the bible and other religious texts.
    

  • Where Is The Justice?
    Poem by Fidel Asante.
    

  • Network for Peace
    Profile of NfP  an organisation based network.
    

  • Life: The Resourceful Resource
    Fidel Asante looks at life a a resource.  "Life is eminently more resourceful than man and his ideas, and existed before his appearance and will exist long after his disappearance". "Life, to some, is dependent on sunlight, to others, upon darkness; and so the wise economy of nature adapts to each existing condition"

  • NPT Dossier
    Vijay Mehta compiles an extensive dossier for PrepCom Review Conference  2004 - 2005. Ban The Bomb or Risk Self – Destruction. Can United Nations and International Community Meet The Challenge?

  • Sharing: The first step to security
    Fidel Asante implores us " to share we will find that our brothers and sisters of the globe also share with us a deep desire to create lasting security amongst ourselves and for future generations."   "One of the saddest facts of human history has been the continuing use of weaponry as way to resolve differences amongst ourselves, jeopardising not only the necessary interaction of diverse groups but also the social and cultural fabric necessary for the stable existence of collectives-most of all the family unit."

    
    The War Business - Everything About it is Appalling
    Douglas Mattern,  president of the Association of World Citizens (AWC), looks at the arms trade and suggests "we pull down the curtain on the "architects of destruction" and put the war business permanently out-of-business".

  Save The United Nations
  Douglas Mattern looks at saving the UN from some US chanllenges. "The imperative change in the third generation UN must be the ability to resolve conflicts between nations and peoples through the framework of world law".

  The UN is in Crisis over Africa
  Karl Miller affirms that the UN is in crisis because of the 4 million people killed in Africa due to conflicts in the last 4 years. He pleads for effective actions to be taken and makes some suggestions to stop the slaughter. "4 millions dead in the last 4 years. That's like the whole of the population of black people in England, Jamaica and some of the Caribbean Islands dead in the last 4 years. That’s like the whole of South London, or Yorkshire, or Yokohama, or Los Angles, or Sydney, or Ireland, or Central African Republic or Uruguay dead in the last 4 years."
  "His-story will focus on the recent Iraq war. But Human-story will remember the 4 million dead in Africa in the last 4 years. It will remember those who fate has put in positions of power and leadership, who instead of helping the African peoples have overseen and even facilitated the mass carnage. Some bury their heads in the sand, some dismiss it as not their problem, some spout near empty rhetoric, some throw their hands up in exasperation, some exploit the situation to amass wealth, some focus on other more politically advantageous issues. While the blood of the African Peoples run and run and the cries of their sufferings go unheeded by some impotent and or intransigent leaders. The UN is indeed in crisis over Africa. A crisis of leadership, morality and integrity."
  

• Karl Miller reports on ARC at the Respect Festival - Millennium Dome Greenwich 19 July 2003.
  

• Why you should respect and support ARC
  Long speech written by Karl Miller for but not delivered to the Respect Festival July 2003.
  

• The Observation Of International Law Is Essential for Maintaining Peace In A Sustainable World
  Fidel Asante looks at what can we do to ensure the Observation Of International Law.
  

• Who will benefit from ARC?.
  Karl Miller looks at some of those who will benefit from ARC.
  

• How you can help to advance ARC
  Karl Miller looks at some ways you ( ) can support ARC.
  

• More Quotes added to our Quotes on the UN and Armaments page
  

• Finnish Conscientious Objectors
  Email from David Heller For Mother Earth / Case Hermaja.
  

• Arms unto the nations.
  In its largest export market, Israel plays by very different rules than in any other sector. From Dave Rolstone.

• Is World Without Arms Possible?
  Talk by Martin Hogbin National / Event Co-ordinator of Campaign Against Arms trade

• UNITE FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
  STOP WAR AND TERRORISM
  A Talk Given At European Peace Conference In Prague On 21^st—23^rd March 2003 By VIJAY MEHTA

• A Report of the European Peace Conference in Prague on 21^st---23^rd March 2003 by Vijay Mehta

• Blood run done, CEASE, NOW PEACE
• IMMANUEL KANT, PERPETUAL PEACE: A PHILOSOPHICAL SKETCH (1795)
• A nightmare scenario - The whole World like Israel v Palestine.
• Report of Formal Launch Meeting  7^th May 2002, in the House of Commons, Room 9, London, UK
• Launch of Action For UN Renewal's "ARMS REDUCTION CAMPAIGN" - By VIJAY MEHTA Vice Chair - Action For UN Renewal
• Why NGO’s should support Action For UN Renewal’s "Implement Article 26" Proposal - By Karl Miller Secretary - Action For UN Renewal
• Why Young People Should Support the Arms Reduction Coalition - By Karl Miller Secretary - Action For UN Renewal. Update of above presented to Warwick University MUN (Model United Nations) 3 November 2001.