UN urges money to fight poverty, not for arms

UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council on Wednesday urged all countries to devote as much money as possible to fighting poverty and limit military spending to the lowest level to ensure security.
The statement was read at the end of a day-long open meeting organized by Costa Rica, which holds the council’s rotating presidency this month. It said the council ‘remains convinced of the necessity to strengthen international peace and security through ... disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control.’
Costa Rica’s President Oscar Arias Sanchez, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987, said Article 26 of the UN Charter calls for the council to formulate plans to promote international peace and security ‘with the least diversion for armaments.’
But until now, he said, Article 26 has been ‘a dead letter in the vast cemetery of intentions for world peace.’
‘The least diversion of resources’ means, first and foremost, finding alternatives to excessive military spending that do not damage security,’ said Arias, whose country does not have a standing army.
He called for strengthening international security so nations don’t continue to arm themselves at the expense of the economic and social development of their people.
‘We seek to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, yet armed conflicts are the largest single cause of world hunger, and a major cause of food emergencies,’ Arias told the council.
‘With the money that some developing nations spend on a single combat plane, they could buy 200,000 MIT Media Lab computers for students with limited resources,’ he said. ‘With the money they spend on a single helicopter, they could give a year’s worth of $100 monthly grants to 5,000 students at risk of dropping out of school.’