Dear Friends,
The Declaration adopted by the UN/NGO Conference in Mexico City, September 9-11, 2009, is below and also online at
http://www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/ngoconference/shared/documents/NGO_Declaration_EN.pdf.
UN press release:
DPI/NGO Conference Calls on Governments, International Organizations to Create Effective Arms Trade Treaty, Nuclear-Weapon-Free World
United Nations Department of Public Information. 14 September 2009
Other conference press releases reporting on speeches etc. are at http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/ngoconference/lang/en/pid/3301.
NGO Declaration: Disarming for Peace and Development 62nd Annual United Nations DPI/NGO Conference
We, the 1,300 participants representing over 340 Non-Governmental Organizations from more than 55 countries,
INTRODUCTION
Determined, as eloquently expressed in the United Nations Charter, to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and to promote social progress and better standards of life;
Alarmed that 1000 people per day are killed by small arms and 3000 more are seriously injured;
Inspired by the Hague Agenda for Peace and Justice for the 21st Century (A/54/98), a 50-point proposal for getting from a culture of violence to a culture of peace, and committed to the abolition of war;
Guided by the UN Secretary-General’s 24 October 2008 five-point proposal for nuclear disarmament;
Committed to promoting respect for cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity as key to reaching peace and security;
Recognizing that security, peace, disarmament, human rights, gender equality and development are closely interconnected at the local, national, regional and global levels;
Recognizing that progress in all these fields is essential for attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which also links this year’s meeting to recent DPI/NGO meetings on climate change and human rights;
Having met at the 62nd Annual United Nations DPI/NGO Conference in Mexico City from 9-11 September 2009;
Urge the following actions:
TO GOVERNMENTS AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:
Nuclear Disarmament
1. At the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, reaffirm and strengthen commitments to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and concurrently to prevent their spread.
2. Promptly commence negotiations on a convention prohibiting and eliminating nuclear weapons globally within an agreed time-bound framework.
3. Obtain the necessary signatures and ratifications to bring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty into force without further delay and without conditions.
4. Complete negotiations on a treaty that bans production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons, brings all weapons-usable materials under safeguards, and fosters reduction of existing stocks.
5. Consolidate existing nuclear-weapon-free zones, promote cooperation between members of such zones, and create new zones, with the goal of achieving, in the near future, a global nuclear-weapon-free zone.
6. At the 24 September 2009 UN Security Council Summit, decide to propose plans for disarmament as provided by the UN Charter, and to reform the Council to make it more representative and accountable and therefore more capable of responding to violations of disarmament and non-proliferation obligations.
7. Declare October 27 as the annual International Day for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons.
8. Request the International Court of Justice to issue a new Advisory Opinion on the requirements for action following from the NPT Article VI obligation of “good faith” negotiation of nuclear disarmament.
9. Join and support the new International Renewable Energy Agency and make energy investment choices that phase out nuclear power and fossil fuels in favor of environmentally sustainable energy sources.
Small Arms and Other Conventional Disarmament
10. Regulate and restrict the military and law enforcement use and trade in arms, especially small arms.
11. Prevent the proliferation of small arms in the civilian population through strict government licensing, registration and regulation of the sale, possession and use of such arms.
12. Support a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to regulate the global international trade in conventional arms. This Treaty must apply to all types of conventional arms and all types of international transfers. An effective Treaty must also prohibit international arms transfers where there is a significant risk that the transfer would violate international law, including international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
13. Implement the UN Firearms Protocol and the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and strengthen the UN Register of Conventional Arms.
14. Harmonize laws on domestic violence with laws for the prevention of violence committed with small arms.
15. Achieve universal adherence to and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
16. Establish a ban on the use of explosive force in populated areas.
17. Undertake disarmament of major conventional arms (tanks, artillery, aircraft, etc.) in accordance with the longstanding UN objective of general and complete disarmament.
General
18. Redirect arms expenditure towards more productive and socially responsible alternatives that could help to diminish the world’s rich-poor divide and in turn increase security.
19. Convene a fourth Special Session on Disarmament.
20. Declare the International Decade for Disarmament, 2010-2020.
21. Commence negotiations on a treaty to prevent the deployment or use of any weapon in space.
22. Establish a World Space Launch Organization, which makes launch capabilities available to all states.
23. Commence negotiations on a global treaty on missiles and anti-missile systems.
24. Establish a verification regime for the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), and achieve universal adherence to and implementation of the BWC and the Chemical Weapons Convention.
25. Establish a World Agency for Technology Assessment relating to disarmament and development.
26. Responding to the global economic crisis, give special consideration to increasing employment, and to vulnerable groups such as youth, women, children, and indigenous people.
27. Promote the development of a high-level goal on preventing and reducing armed violence towards 2015, which will offer the opportunity to integrate security-related themes into the possible follow-up of the MDGs.
28. Fully implement Security Council resolution 1325, and in particular ensure representation of women at all levels of decision-making on conflict prevention, management, and resolution.
29. Fully implement Security Council resolution 1820 to prevent sexual violence in armed conflict.
TO THE UN SYSTEM, VIA THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL:
1. Transform the UN Register on Conventional Arms into a true global observatory linking civil society organizations and UN agencies, to monitor and report all trade and use of weapons.
2. Encourage greater participation of civil society from developing and least developed countries in UN peace and disarmament forums, so that their local and regional perspectives are included within the discussions.
3. Involve new partners from strategic global networks as key elements to promote peace education, violence prevention, conflict resolution and development.
TO NGOs AND CIVIL SOCIETY:
1. Join and develop international NGO networks to promote peace, security, disarmament, and development, and support cross-sectoral forums building on this conference.
2. Strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations in the Global South, through partnerships, information exchange and fundraising.
3. Focus research on the development impacts of armed insecurity, and develop best practices in disarmament.
4. Promote education for peace, conflict resolution, human rights (civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental) and gender equality as essential to a just peace and improved human security.
FINALLY:
The purpose of this declaration is simple. Its aim is to save lives and to reduce injuries, and in the case of nuclear weapons, to prevent the destruction of civilization. The benefits of peace and security far outweigh whatever short-term economic benefits the trade in arms may promise.
We request all peoples, organizations and governments to recognize and promote the efforts of many thousands of NGOs and civil society organizations around the world which promote peace and disarmament at the community level and are the roots of our international movements.
We thank the people and government of Mexico for their warm and friendly welcome at this, our first such meeting in Latin America.